Returns Still Up in Air

Down to nine players, Phil Jackson allowed himself to dream just a little.

The Laker coach said Wednesday night that in his preferred scenario, Kobe Bryant would play Saturday in Utah, Shaquille O’Neal next Wednesday against Seattle and Karl Malone on Feb. 1 against Toronto.

He guaranteed none of it.

Bryant, who has a sprained shoulder, can come off the injured list Saturday. He did not accompany the team to Memphis and will not be in Dallas tonight. He will attend his motions hearing Friday in Eagle, Colo., then meet the team in Salt Lake City.

“He’s spoken of some intent or hopes ... to play in Salt Lake,” Jackson said. “There’s nothing that’s clinically, medically a difficult proposition for him to play, other than just the pain he deals with with the separation. If he can stand that pain, he’s got range of motion and all the other things.... The function of playing basketball is not going to create an injury.”

O’Neal, who strained his calf Jan. 2, will be re-examined Monday, Jackson said. The calf remains sore to the touch. According to Jackson, doctors are concerned O’Neal could “rupture” the calf if he were to jump too hard or fast.

“I’m a bum,” O’Neal said with a slight smile. “Talk to the players. I’m nothing. I’m useless to the organization.”

On Tuesday, he sat out his 12th game, including the last 10. Malone has missed 15, 14 because of his sprained right knee, and teammates are predicting Malone will be out until the All-Star break. But, on the day his only remaining center -- 20-year-old Jamal Sampson -- was unable to play because of a sprained ankle, Jackson would allow himself to imagine them all back.

The Lakers expect to have Horace Grant for Saturday’s game, though they hadn’t heard from him as of Wednesday night. Grant told The Times on Tuesday night that he would be in Salt Lake City on Friday.

At some point, Jackson said, the weight of the season might be more than nine or 10 mostly young players could bear, beginning, perhaps, with the seven-game trip that starts Feb. 1. The Lakers will play in Toronto, Indiana, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando and Houston.

“If we can make it through this week and next, and get these guys back for the seven-game road trip, then we have a chance to get back into the hunt of things,” he said. “A lot of them are good teams that we’re going to have to fight to survive. That’s going to be a difficult enough of a challenge for a team that has its full array of players.

“This last week and a half before the All-Star break is kind of a critical time to have some guys back.”

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In a Wednesday newspaper story about throwback jerseys, the Grizzlies discussed their Chamberlains and Robertsons and Birds.

In the middle of it, this quote, from Jason Williams: “I don’t even have to like the guy to buy his throwback. For instance, I have a Bill Walton throwback.”

Luke Walton laughed. Nobody gets on his father worse than O’Neal, and that’s in his own locker room.

“I don’t get protective,” Luke said, “or try to fight back. I’ll just say, ‘That’s your opinion.’ ”

Luke said he talks to his father about once a week and they leave messages for each other more often than that.

“He’s really a nice guy,” Luke said. “Sometimes that’s how he does things.”