Malone Muses as Lakers Wait

The Lakers made a draft pick, changed coaches and traded a legend, but what they’re really doing this off-season is waiting on Kobe Bryant.

Ownership has made it as appealing to him as it could, made it as comfortable as it could, and now it’s about Bryant, if this is what he wants.

Rudy Tomjanovich, the new coach, said nothing about ball movement at his Saturday afternoon news conference. He did mention picks, double-picks, isolation plays and how impressed he was by Bryant. Of course, Tomjanovich, as of that moment, was still waiting on his first telephone call from Bryant.

Forty-eight hours after the Lakers and Miami Heat agreed in principle to the trade of Shaquille O’Neal for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler and a draft pick, Laker officials said there still was no word from Bryant.

O’Neal’s agent said Sunday his client was feeling good, working out and “really happy” about the trade, which could be announced at 9:01 Tuesday night and made official when the NBA approves the paperwork and all four players pass their physical exams.

Meanwhile, Karl Malone was on a couch in Newport Beach, recovering from knee and finger surgeries, conflicted by O’Neal going to Miami, Bryant pondering the rest of his life, the Lakers building, well, what exactly he wasn’t sure. He did say he believed Bryant, his neighbor, would take the Lakers’ money -- more than $130 million over seven years -- but did not know for sure and had not spoken to him in a couple of days.

Malone rode a stationary bike with no resistance for 15 minutes this weekend. He revealed he’d also had bone spurs removed from the middle finger of his shooting hand and that the two surgeries were expected to heal at the same time, for training camp, if necessary.

If only his basketball life was so settled, he mused with a soft laugh. He’d given up so much to come to Los Angeles. A year later, the Lakers have changed, O’Neal looks gone, he has never met the new coach and, according to sources, the San Antonio Spurs are calling a lot.

It appears unlikely Malone will return to the Lakers, even if Bryant re-signs with them. When free agency came for Bryant and a trade loomed for O’Neal, Malone pledged not to choose between them. So, he mulls retirement some days, the Spurs on others, and other teams still call, his options growing by the day.

“It’s very disheartening,” Malone said. “Shaq was without a doubt -- and I didn’t know Kobe -- Shaq was the main reason I came here. Now they traded him. They didn’t talk to me about what I thought about it, if I was coming back. I’m very disappointed it would happen like that.

“If I was to come back, I’d look at those guys as my teammates. I’d go to war with them every night. I came here for a particular reason, though. It’s been snatched away from me. Not only did [the Lakers] not talk about it with me, the information I got was from TV and newspapers. I mean, not to disrespect Grant and Odom and all those guys, but you’re not going to replace Shaq.”

Even if the Lakers had second thoughts, the same code that required General Manager Mitch Kupchak to offer no absolute when asked three weeks ago if he would ever trade O’Neal -- the answer that brought O’Neal’s public trade demand -- will not let him back out of this deal. More important, owner Jerry Buss and Kupchak believe they can win with this roster, with complementary upgrades at backup point guard and center, assuming Bryant returns. Grant, Odom and Butler did not return messages, though Butler’s wife, Andrea, said of Caron, “He’ll play well wherever he is. And, well, we’re always ready for a change.”

Still, life adjusts in the Western Conference, where for most of eight years it was all about O’Neal, both in the postseason and the off-season.

Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban, fighting the O’Neal windmill for several years, mused on Sunday morning, “Does this change how you build a team to win the West? Do we look for the quick 7-footer to guard [Tim] Duncan and [Kevin] Garnett, since we don’t have the see Shaq in the Western Conference playoffs?”

Cuban reportedly put together a handful of trade possibilities, some of them heavy on talent, others loaded toward short-term salary-cap relief. The Lakers chose to deal O’Neal to the Eastern Conference, for three decent players and no All-Stars and two weighty, long-term contracts.

“Micky [Arison] and Pat [Riley] are brilliant,” Cuban said of the Heat owner and president. “They saved money on the deal, they will sell out every game, and they get the most dominant player in the game. Only question is, what happens in those 20 to 30 games per year MDE can’t play.”

MDE would be O’Neal, who calls himself the most dominant ever, and he’d certainly be the best player the Heat has ever had, assuming league administrators and team doctors give their blessings.

The Lakers have not examined Grant, whose knees are said to be racked by tendinitis. In a typical trade scenario, the Lakers would have Dr. Steve Lombardo, their team physician, examine the new players. In Grant’s case, Lombardo would X-ray Grant’s knees or inspect the last tests taken. He then would report to Kupchak, probably offering an opinion about whether a player such as Grant was physically sound and had a decent chance to continue to be.

Grant is 32, older in the knees. The Heat held him out of many practices, but he missed only six regular-season games last season and 16 over the last four seasons, or one more than O’Neal missed last season alone.

A hard-driven player who has survived under NBA rims at just 6 feet 9, Grant was rested on off days in part because he refused to glide through practices, so the coaching staff chose to save him for games.

Grant’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, said Sunday that Grant was healthy and would pass a physical. “He’s fine,” he said.

If Grant were to fail the physical, said an NBA source, it would be “fatal” to the trade.

According to NBA guidelines, physicals must take place within 48 hours of the trade during the regular season and seven days during the off-season. The clock would start Tuesday night.