Lakers Officially Out of It

Not quite three years ago, the Lakers paraded down Figueroa Street and through the hearts of a city after winning a third consecutive National Basketball Assn. championship, as Shaquille O’Neal cracked jokes, Phil Jackson smiled warmly and Kobe Bryant proclaimed, “Let’s do it again next year!”

It didn’t happen again, and it might not for a while.

The Lakers managed to make it to the NBA Finals last season before losing to the Detroit Pistons. But Tuesday night they completed an epic collapse, their loss to the Phoenix Suns eliminating them from the playoffs for only the fourth time in their 45 years in Los Angeles.

It is the latest sneaker to drop in a soap opera that featured the three successive championships, which helped unite fans across the region in a sea of yellow jerseys and car-window flags, and again made the Lakers one of the hottest properties in sports.

But their swift decline -- they are only the seventh finalist in league history to miss the playoffs the following season -- has left the Lakers with unsold seats at home games and facing tough financial rules that keep teams from rebuilding quickly.

Owner Jerry Buss had envisioned the team remaining in playoff contention year after year as a fun-to-follow, run-and-gun team, but they are none of the above, demonstrated Tuesday in a 125-99 loss to Phoenix, as a leg injury hobbled Bryant and an uninspiring roster played out the string for a coach whose contract expires in three months.

The season was preceded by a tumultuous summer in which the Lakers did not retain Jackson, who as their coach guided them to four trips to the Finals in five years; and traded O’Neal, one of the best big men ever to play basketball, for three non-All-Stars. (The Miami Heat, meanwhile, is challenging for the league’s best record with a slimmer, more determined O’Neal leading the charge.)

Expectations remained high, fueled by Buss’ proclamations that rebuilding was not an option and that the Lakers would try to maintain standards of playoff excellence.

But the season took an unsteady turn when new Coach Rudy Tomjanovich resigned in February, citing mental and physical fatigue only 43 games into a five-year, $30-million contract. Career assistant Frank Hamblen took his place.

The Lakers, out of the playoff hunt for the first time since 1994, are in 11th place in the Western Conference, one-half game behind the Clippers, their Staples Center co-tenants, who have not made the playoffs since 1997.

Buss, through team spokesmen, has declined numerous requests to be interviewed in recent weeks.

“We’re never going to be pleased with not making the playoffs,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Tuesday in a brief interview. “That’s just the way it is.”

In February, Laker minority owner Magic Johnson said: “We don’t want another year like this ever again. It’s been a roller coaster ride that we’re not used to. Normally other teams have this.”

With two weeks left in the regular season, the Lakers were eliminated against the Western Conference-leading Suns, a track team in basketball shoes averaging 110 points a game in an otherwise low-scoring league.

The Lakers, by comparison, have been unable to re-create a modern-day version of Buss’ beloved “Showtime” teams of the 1980s, which had Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and five championship trophies to show for it.

Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia 76er guard and the league’s leading scorer, summed up the Lakers’ plight.

“There ain’t no No. 34 around here no more,” he said last week, referring to O’Neal. “There’s no surprise.”

Repairs might take years because the Lakers have little financial flexibility under the salary cap, a spending limit imposed by the league. In addition, their draft position -- to be determined by weighted lottery -- is unlikely to be among the first few selections, and the free-agent market is weaker than in 1996, when O’Neal was lured from the Orlando Magic.

Bryant, now clear of the civil and criminal cases arising out of a 2003 sexual assault charge in Colorado, remains the team cornerstone at age 26. But some teammates were annoyed by his attempts to lead by chiding them on the practice court and hogging the ball in games. Last week, point guard Chucky Atkins derisively referred to Bryant, the league’s second-leading scorer, as the team’s general manager.

Bryant also has been at the center of other tiffs during the season.

Seattle SuperSonic All-Star guard Ray Allen, after exchanging words with Bryant during an exhibition game in October, predicted that he would become selfish and demand a trade within a year or two if the Lakers were failing. (Bryant’s contract includes a no-trade clause for the next two seasons.)

A month later, Bryant accused former Laker forward Karl Malone of hitting on his wife, Vanessa, at a Laker game. Malone, who retired during the season, denied the accusation.

O’Neal, Bryant’s most famous antagonist, was shipped off, but the trade has proved to be one-sided, with ongoing financial ramifications.

Forward Brian Grant, one of three players acquired in the deal, has been slowed by severe tendinitis in his right knee and has averaged less than four points per game. He is guaranteed $14.3 million next season and $15.4 million in 2006-07.

Lamar Odom, another forward who arrived in the trade, was seen as a frontcourt complement to Bryant, but at times has been overshadowed by Bryant’s strong personality both on and off the court. He has four years and $51.2 million left on his contract.

Other newcomers have struggled as well. Atkins and center Chris Mihm, who were career part-timers before being thrust into the starting lineup in November, faded down the stretch.

The Lakers also must come up with a long-term plan for the other player acquired in the O’Neal trade, Caron Butler, one of the few Lakers to finish the season on a strong note. A young and energetic forward, Butler will be a restricted free agent after next season and an offer from another team could force the Lakers into a long-term contract if they choose to match it.

Veteran and fan favorite Vlade Divac, who returned to the Lakers after eight seasons elsewhere, was a large disappointment. He averaged less than one point in only nine games because of a back injury and is due $5.4 million next season, though the Lakers could buy him out for $2 million.

Another question mark is forward Devean George, who has played only seven games because of complications from off-season ankle surgery. George, the only Laker besides Bryant remaining from the championship run that began in 2000, has the option of returning for $5 million. He is expected to take the money instead of pursuing free agency.

If George stays, he won’t be surrounded by any free-agent prizes. Times have changed since the Lakers swooped in and signed O’Neal in 1996.

The Lakers are hemmed in by the current team salary cap of $43 million. And, there are now financial incentives for players to stay with their current teams when their contracts expire.

Bryant, for example, weighed two concrete offers when he tested the free-agent market last summer: He could have signed with the Clippers for about $100 million over six years, the most they could have offered, or re-signed with the Lakers for seven years at $136.4 million, their maximum allowable bid.

He chose the Lakers -- and the money, and the extra year on his contract.

“It’s safe to say that one of the goals of the last collective bargaining agreement was to create incentive for players to stay with their current team,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. “Teams build equity in their players, and we want to give teams the best chance to re-sign their current players.”

The Lakers are also looking for a coach. Remote scenarios include Jackson returning or Larry Brown being wooed away from the Detroit Pistons; more likely, the choice will be an up-and-coming pro assistant.

As for now, they are out of the playoffs, their final game to take place April 20 in Portland.

O’Neal, after his new team defeated his old one last month in Miami, said the Lakers were merely a “so-so” team.

Turns out, he was being generous.