Malone at Front of the Line

Karl Malone met with Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak on Wednesday, becoming the first of what could be several free agents to come through Los Angeles in the next week or so.

A free agent who has spent the first 18 years of his NBA career with the Utah Jazz, Malone flew in from Salt Lake City on Tuesday night and by Wednesday afternoon sat across from Kupchak, the two discussing scenarios that could have Malone finish his career with the Lakers.

Kupchak would not comment.

By all appearances, the Lakers will move quickly to add heft and touch to a roster that needs to be rebuilt around Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Kupchak has spoken to the agents for free agents Gary Payton, Juwan Howard and P.J. Brown, among others, and the organization seems to have made Payton its top priority.

Aaron Goodwin, Payton’s agent, said Wednesday he hoped to have Payton meet with Kupchak in Los Angeles as early as Monday. While the Lakers lack the salary-cap room to come close to what the Milwaukee Bucks could offer Payton in salary or the personnel to make a credible sign-and-trade attempt, Goodwin said the Lakers are attractive in other ways.

“The opportunity for Gary to play with Kobe and Shaq and Derek [Fisher] is very intriguing for Gary,” Goodwin said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t even be considering it. It’s definitely under consideration.”

Mark Bartelstein, Brown’s agent, said he’d spoken to Kupchak “quite a bit” in the first 48 hours of the negotiating period. It appears Brown could be the hardest sell on the mid-level exception.

“I think his value is much more than that,” Bartelstein said. “But P.J.’s going to have to make that decision.”

In their best-case scenario, the Lakers would split their mid-level exception, using it to sign two free agents. They believe Malone, in his quest for a championship before he retires, might consider it, and that might ultimately be the factor that brings Malone to Los Angeles for good.

Malone, who will be 40 in three weeks, averaged 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists last season. He is 2,014 points from the league’s all-time scoring record. With a two-year deal, and assuming he plays 82 games a season, Malone would have to average 12.3 points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, manageable even in an offense that features O’Neal and Bryant first.

Those within the organization believe O’Neal and Bryant will be consulted before a major signing.

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Howard, on Sporting News Radio: “I’ve heard talk that the Lakers are interested.... We have had some conversations, but nothing is etched in stone. I am not trying to go out and go with the highest bidder. It’s about being in the right situation where I have a chance to win.”

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The Lakers introduced their draft picks in a brief news conference Wednesday in El Segundo, with Kupchak seated between first-rounder Brian Cook and second-rounder Luke Walton.

Walton will wear No. 4, representing the four sons of Bill Walton, and Cook will wear 43, the reverse of the number he wore while at Illinois.

“I didn’t think I could get [34] here,” Cook said, smiling.

O’Neal wears 34.

Cook traveled from Lincoln, Ill., a town of about 15,000 and a 2 1/2-hour drive from Chicago, with his mother, Joyce, and girlfriend, Melissa. They’ll return to Illinois on Friday, leaving Cook to his summer regimen of weight training and lessons in the triangle offense.

A small-town guy with small-town sensibilities, Cook watched the NBA draft from an American Legion hall in Lincoln. Projected as a mid-first-round pick, he was invited to attend the draft in Secaucus, N.J., to dress up in a suit and parade before the television cameras, but instead he spent the night with 70 friends and family members.

He described himself as “laid back,” a fisherman by hobby, and said he’d keep things simple, even in Los Angeles.

“I’m going to find me a lake and be me,” he said.

“I think if I keep doing the things I’ve been doing, everything will work out.”

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Brian’s father, Norm, was taken by the Boston Celtics No. 16 overall in the 1976 draft.

Norm Cook played barely more than one season in the NBA, his career blindsided by the effects of paranoid schizophrenia. The mental illness cost Cook his marriage and a full relationship with his son, and often his freedom, as he has at times become violent.

Joyce Cook guessed Wednesday that Norm Cook was in a mental institution, but she could not be sure. It changes, it seems, sometimes day to day, she said.

“Brian handles it real well,” Joyce said. “He knows his dad has an illness. He loves his dad.”

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Leon Smith, who has had difficulty fitting into several leagues since he was drafted out of Chicago’s Martin Luther King High four years ago, will play for the Lakers’ entry in the L.A. Pro Summer League at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

The team, coached by Kurt Rambis, opens its season Sunday against the Canadian national team.

Smith, who attempted suicide two weeks into the 1999-2000 season while with the Dallas Mavericks, played 14 games for the Atlanta Hawks two seasons ago. In the last year, the 6-foot-10 forward has played for the Globetrotters, in the USBL, the CBA and in Puerto Rico.

“It’s a summer-league opportunity,” Kupchak said Wednesday. “Nine times out of 10, that’s where it ends. If a guy shows some promise, then the next thing that happens is a training-camp invitation.”