Many Happy Returns for Shaq

The most famous member of the Lakers’ walking wounded disappeared Thursday and was replaced by a Shaquille O’Neal who showed up at practice on his 25th birthday and broke into a couple of quick sprints on the sideline at Loyola Marymount, as if to show off or simply prove he can still run.

The brace that traveled the length of his left leg isn’t the only thing O’Neal has apparently discarded. He said the doctors can keep their prognosis for an end-of-season return, insisting he has his own timetable and will play again April 2 against the Denver Nuggets at the Forum--even as those doctors say no way.

Either way, it looks as if he’ll be a Laker again this season. Thursday, in the first significant update since O’Neal hurt his knee Feb. 12, the team said he is progressing nicely and remains on schedule to come back before the playoffs, although maybe right before the playoffs.

O’Neal said he will be a Laker next season too, and the one after that. And for the rest of his career.

“I’m a Laker for life,� he said. “No question.�

Well, almost no question.

“Unless they trade me.�

In other words, O’Neal said he has zero interest in using his escape clause in the summer of 1999 to return to Orlando, a theory advanced by his close friend, Dennis Scott of the Magic.

“Shaq would think about it,� Scott recently told the Orlando Sentinel. “He’d definitely consider it, despite all the things that happened here. Shaq wishes he were here now.�

Thursday, Shaq said he wouldn’t and doesn’t.

“If you’re a dog in one cage and you don’t like the way you’re treated and then you have the chance to go a nicer cage, and then you let the dog go in three years, which cage do you think he’ll go to?� O’Neal said.

“Jerry West had given me more things in the first four days than I had gotten in four years in Orlando. You can’t beat that. The respect.

“The people here--the organization, the fans--you can’t beat that. The fans down in Orlando, the town there isn’t a real-people kind of town. My home down there [in the suburb of Isleworth] was going to be my permanent home. Now, it’s just going to be my summer home and a business home. I have family and friends who are still there, so I want to keep it, but this will be my permanent home.�

And the comments by Scott?

“That’s my boy,� O’Neal said. “He has his opinion.�

So is it true?

“Negative.�

The all-star center was the only player in the league ranked in the top five in four statistical categories at the time of his injury. The cornerstone of the franchise, he still may become a free agent after three seasons as a Laker. But, he said, it will only be to rework his deal, by then making it one that will take him into retirement as a Laker.

As for this season, the Lakers say they’re about a month away from setting a target date for O’Neal’s return. According to Dr. O’Neal’s timetable, he’ll be four games into the return a month from today.

Management appreciates his eagerness and applauds his enthusiasm. But it would also post guards around every arena in the NBA to keep O’Neal off the court before the medical staff, not the patient, says he is ready. Just because the pain and swelling have gone away, thanks to twice-daily treatments and rehabilitation sessions, doesn’t mean the partially torn ligament, the hyperextended joint, the torn soft tissue that surrounds the knee, and the broken bone have healed.

They don’t figure to be by April 2 either, or at least at 100% strength. Superman may be O’Neal’s guy, but only one of them has X-ray vision. Mortals will have to rely on an MRI.

Still, O’Neal was insistent.

“When I say 30 days from now, I mean ready to play,� he said. “Not 30 days before practicing.

“I know my body. Only I know my body. The doctors are great, but I know my body.

“I just can’t sit and watch my team go through what they’re going through. Shawn Bradley wants to fight us now? C’mon.�

The Lakers are 4-6 since losing O’Neal. They are 3-5 in games without O’Neal and Robert Horry, the injured starting small forward.

Horry is also on his original schedule for a return from the sprained knee ligament, with late March seen as the earliest he might be back.