Malone Won’t Forget Gesture

Or, as the sign in the stands said, “LAKERSFIELD.”

Thanks to the surprising, last-minute decision by Shaquille O’Neal to play Sunday, this became the site of the most star-studded Laker exhibition game yet.

Still no Kobe Bryant, but a lineup featuring O’Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers isn’t a bad attraction for an arena that’s usually the home of the Bakersfield Condors.

Just another link in the unlikely chain that tethers the NBA’s most glamorous franchise to California’s 13th-largest city, population 247,057.

It all dates to the 1999 preseason, when structural problems in the new Alltel Arena in Little Rock, Ark., forced the cancellation of a game against the Washington Wizards. The Lakers turned to Bakersfield as a replacement, and tickets were gone for the game at Centennial Garden less than an hour after they went on sale. Once the Lakers got here and saw the enthusiastic reception that awaited them, they decided to make it a regular stop on their exhibition tour.

“Despite the fact that we’re two hours from Los Angeles, we have an extraordinary high percentage of people here who are dedicated Laker fans,” said Alan Tandy, the Bakersfield city manager. “If you accused [the residents] of being a part of the L.A. area, they would take offense. There’s a substantial difference between that and being a Laker fan. People think of this as being the [Central] Valley and a separate state, but by the same token, the Lakers are universal heroes.”

The Scott family has come every year, with John and Janie wearing Laker apparel, daughters Katelyn and Ashley dressed in purple Laker leotards and John Jr.’s hair dyed like a purple-and-gold Easter egg.

The Laker game is the city’s biggest attraction since ...

“The Lakers,” Janie Scott said. “That is the biggest thing to hit Bakersfield every year.”

O’Neal made it even bigger.

He hadn’t played since the Lakers’ second exhibition game in Hawaii on Oct. 8, citing a bruised heel. Bryant has had limited practice workouts while recovering from his off-season knee surgery and shuttling back and forth to Colorado for his preliminary hearing.

Late last week, Jackson had said that the chances of Bryant and O’Neal playing Sunday were “slim and remote.” Even after shedding weight this summer, O’Neal still can’t be called slim, so that would make him remote. Jackson, in his pregame chat with reporters, gave no indication that O’Neal would play Sunday, and neither did O’Neal.

Jackson was still baffled by the one-sided chill in his relationship with O’Neal, who initiated a cold war from the outset of training camp and continues to send out signals that he isn’t happy with Jackson.

No one has the slightest idea why. It’s especially strange because Jackson -- who never has been afraid to tweak O’Neal in the past -- has had nothing but positive things to say about O’Neal since training camp started.

Jackson said he isn’t worried about it. Nor should anyone else be.

These latest ramblings fall into the same category as 90% of the things O’Neal says: harmless. Sometimes senseless, occasionally tasteless, but generally harmless.

The same goes for his wishes for a contract extension, which he made into an issue for the first two weeks of the preseason. It doesn’t make sense that he would be pressed about an extension that couldn’t kick in until 2006; by then the Lakers will have paid him more than $200 million over 10 years. Now, he has had enough people whisper in his ear that he should clam up that he’s beginning to heed their advice.

All that matters to the Lakers is that O’Neal is motivated. Whether it’s Shaq vs. Phil, Shaq vs. Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak, or Shaq vs. some other imagined foe, the end result should be one of his better seasons in Los Angeles.

But O’Neal has not only been creating enemies this preseason. It turns out he’s forging stronger friendships as well.

“Me and him think a lot alike,” Malone said. “Sometimes, even on the bus ride up here, we said some things at the same time and just started laughing.”

So Malone is one of the few people who can get away with chiding O’Neal. He has teased him about getting back in the lineup, with a serious undercurrent that he wants and needs to play with O’Neal to get used to life with a dominant big man.

So with the Lakers already without Horace Grant (concussion), and with backup big man Jamal Sampson unable to loosen his tight back, O’Neal realized the extra-center duty probably would fall on Malone’s broad shoulders Sunday.

“He said, ‘Man, you’re going to have to play 35 minutes tonight,’ ” Malone said. “I said, ‘Yeah. It’d be nice if I had somebody to go with me.’ Just messing with him.”

Then O’Neal went to Jackson and said he could play if needed.

Jackson replied, “We always like to have you play.”

“I didn’t want [Malone] out there by himself,” O’Neal said. “I just wanted to go out and try. We were one big man short.”

O’Neal looked rusty at the beginning, missing a couple of hook shots as he tested his heel. But he put together a dominant third quarter, in which he scored 14 points -- despite missing eight of 12 free throws in the period.

He did get one dunk, much to the crowd’s delight.

“[O’Neal] wasn’t supposed to play two years ago, and he came through,” fan John Scott Sr. said. “It’s greatly appreciated.”

Especially by one 40-year-old teammate.

“Even though it’s a preseason game, it meant a lot to me,” Malone said. “It ain’t the big things to me, it’s the small things. This right here, which was big to the fans, and it was small to me, that meant a lot to me.

“That’s what keeps me going, [makes me] want to line up on the line and do a sprint.”

Malone got that extra bit of motivation, one teammate helping another. And the 9,772 fans got another reward, when Lawrence Tanter announced during the game that the Lakers would be back next year.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.