He’s Keeping Them Waiting

Kobe Bryant was to meet Monday night at a Newport Beach hotel with officials from the Lakers and Clippers, the superstar swingman perhaps undecided about his future, both local teams still recruiting.

Bryant received new Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich and General Manager Mitch Kupchak at the Four Seasons hotel, as well as a Clipper delegation believed to include Coach Mike Dunleavy and GM Elgin Baylor.

An unrestricted free agent, Bryant can sign a new contract beginning at 9:01 p.m. today. It is not a deadline, but the Lakers, battling the Clippers over Bryant, appear to be treating it as such. The Laker officials also intended to meet with Karl Malone, the free-agent power forward who lives in Newport Beach and is recovering from knee and finger surgeries.

Tomjanovich had yet to speak to Bryant; he’d sent a note and a videotape outlining what his offensive philosophy could do for Bryant’s offensive urges. Owner Jerry Buss intended to telephone from Italy, he said for the first time since Bryant became a free agent nearly two weeks ago.

Those who know Bryant and the Lakers sense he will re-sign with the club, take the seven-year offer worth about $130 million, and resume a Laker career that has seen three NBA titles and six All-Star appearances in eight seasons. But the process remains murky.

The Lakers have overhauled their team, many believe for Bryant’s benefit. Teams competing against the Lakers are said to be raising with Bryant the issue of living with the perception he forced the departures of Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson.

So, as the time approaches when they can make official their trade of O’Neal to the Miami Heat for three players and a draft pick, and three days since they introduced Tomjanovich as Jackson’s successor, the Lakers await Bryant’s approval with still other topics to address.

Gary Payton, unnerved by the O’Neal trade and still carrying an I-didn’t-sign-up-for-this attitude, has requested a meeting with Tomjanovich, which Payton’s agent said could happen in the coming days. Unhappy with his part in last season’s team, Payton is hoping for changes. In an extreme case, Payton could ask to be traded or waived, but apparently he’s not there yet. He leaves late next week for Japan, where he will conduct clinics for Nike.

The Lakers are thumbing through free agents, including a few of their own, such as Malone, Derek Fisher and Slava Medvedenko.

Fisher is drawing interest from more than a few places, Houston and Miami among them, and reportedly spent part of the weekend in Seattle.

Kupchak and Pat Riley, his Heat counterpart, will move to finalize the O’Neal trade tonight, as well.

Typically, the teams involved in the trade would telephone the NBA office in New York and request a conference call with league lawyers. If Kupchak or Riley called just after midnight Eastern time, they could be on the phone within minutes.

The team and league officials would work toward approving the trade, from the players’ contracts to their medical records. In this conversation, it would be decided whether physicals are necessary and by when they could be done.

If the lawyers granted their approval, the trade could be announced, pending the physicals.

If the process moves quickly enough, O’Neal could be an ex-Laker by Wednesday morning, and Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and Caron Butler could be holding up yellow jerseys in a news conference by later that day.