George Is Elected Player Rep

Devean George’s season, already off to a late start, could now go well into June, if not beyond.

George, who has yet to play because of off-season ankle surgery, was voted by teammates to be the Lakers’ player representative for the NBA players’ union. More so than other years, it will be a busy task because the collective bargaining agreement expires July 1, which could lead to the NBA’s first work stoppage since the 1998-99 season.

Among other issues, owners are hoping to shorten maximum contract lengths from seven years to three or four. Some owners also want to increase the luxury tax to curb free-spending teams.

The players’ association would object to both concepts.

“I think there’s a lot of issues we need to address,” George said.

The last NBA lockout reduced the 1998-99 season to 50 games. Players lost about $600 million in salary and owners each lost 32 games’ worth of revenue until a six-year collective bargaining agreement was signed. That agreement set caps on individual salaries, among other precedents.

“Part of the reason that we’re having a problem is that we’re currently in agreement with the deal they put in place for us during the last lockout,” George said. “We had to take whatever deal was handed to us because guys were saying they had to get back to work. We don’t understand why we’re in a position now when we accepted what they had given us last time. That’s one of the things we’re scratching our head about.”

The potential disagreement between the sides is not as deeply creased, however, as it is in the NHL, where an acrimonious owners’ lockout could lead to the cancellation of a season.

“Hopefully we can get something done and accomplished by June,” George said. “We have all this time right now to get some negotiating done and hopefully we can get something worked out we both can agree upon before the season ends.”

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George, who averaged a career-best 7.4 points last season and started 19 of the Lakers’ 22 playoff games, said he planned to begin practicing next week. He had hoped to return this week, but was delayed in part because of a respiratory infection.

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Center Vlade Divac will continue to be worked into the offense gradually as his conditioning improves.

“There are some plays where we’ll use him as a passer [because] he does that so well, very similar to what he did at Sacramento,” Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “Right now, my biggest concern is his conditioning.”