O’Neal’s Injury Triggers Queries

Has the Fearsome Foursome been reduced to the Dynamic Duo?

Will Karl Malone’s status be changed?

Could Horace Grant play a starter’s minutes at center?

Are Slava Medvedenko, Luke Walton and Brian Cook ready for prime time?

When will Rick Fox make the transition from the practice court at the Lakers’ El Segundo training facility to Staples Center or some other NBA arena?

Questions, questions, questions. The answer to all of them hinges on another question: How serious is center Shaquille O’Neal’s calf injury?

The answer to that question won’t come until tonight’s game against the Clippers at Staples Center.

A day after straining his right calf in the second quarter against the SuperSonics in Seattle, O’Neal was examined by team doctor Steve Lombardo at the El Segundo facility and given therapy. But no report was issued on the severity of the injury.

O’Neal didn’t speak to the media and what he told Coach Phil Jackson wasn’t what a coach wants to hear from his superstar.

“ ‘It doesn’t look good.’ That’s all [O’Neal] said to me,” Jackson told reporters.

With Malone sidelined indefinitely because of a sprained knee ligament, if O’Neal can’t play tonight, the Lakers will still have Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton, a twosome any team would be thrilled to insert in its starting lineup. But they will still need someone to fill the middle, and Jackson isn’t sure he wants to put the brunt of that load on the 38-year-old Grant.

“I don’t want to play Horace the great length of time sometimes required by a starter,” Jackson said. “Thirty minutes is the [maximum]. We’ve got some young guys who want to play in Brian Cook, and Slava and Luke Walton. We’ll let them have a crack at it. Slava definitely can help us on the inside. We have to trust him and use him. We have to have an inside game.

“Shaq gets back whenever he gets back.”

If O’Neal doesn’t come back tonight, Jackson and the Lakers may rethink their position on Malone. The Laker power forward, injured Dec. 21, doesn’t appear close to returning. The Lakers would have put Malone on the injured list, which would have required him to sit out five games, if they had had an able replacement. But with Fox still working his way back from spring foot surgery, the Lakers decided their best option was to leave Malone eligible and cross their fingers.

If O’Neal can’t play, they will be out of fingers. And dangerously low on big bodies.

Asked if that meant revisiting the injury-list issue, Jackson said, “Yeah, when you are down to 10 players, you are putting yourself in jeopardy.... We’ll have to consider that.”

Jackson hasn’t indicated that he believes Fox is ready.

“I see improvement,” Jackson said, “but it’s slow.”

Fox said his return date is out of his hands.

“It’s the coaches’ decision,” he said, “no matter how much I think I can help. There are going to be some limits for a while with the surgery I had and the recovery period. I can’t jump and dunk, but I couldn’t do that before anyway.

“I am anxious to get out there and find out what I can do. If I had to play for my supper tonight, I wouldn’t starve.”

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TONIGHT

Lakers vs. Clippers, 6:30

Channel 9, Channel 5

Site -- Staples Center

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330), KXTA (690/1150).

Records -- Lakers 21-8, Clippers 13-16.

Series record (2002-03) -- Lakers, 4-0.

Update -- Point guard Marko Jaric is questionable after suffering a sprained left foot in the Clippers’ 116-109 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. “It’s not a huge injury, but we’ll see,” Jaric said. This is the first meeting this season between the L.A. rivals. The Lakers will be designated the visiting team tonight. That designation has meant little in the four seasons the teams have shared Staples Center. The Lakers are 7-1 as the home team, 7-1 as the visitors.

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Staff writer Jerry Crowe contributed to this report.