Lakers Still Very Interested in Fox

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[Los Angeles Times]         [NBA]

                                              [IBM Reinventing Education]



                                   Saturday, August 16, 1997

  Lakers Still Very Interested in Fox
  By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER, Times Staff Writer



  PREV STORY     [B]attling geography and a newly increased salary cap,
                    the Lakers on Friday reaffirmed their desire to sign
  NEXT STORY    Rick Fox, saying they will wait for the free-agent
                forward as long as he returns the interest, even if he
                prefers to remain in the East.
  RELATED            In the Lakers' favor, they will be a championship
  ------------- contender for years to come, an appeal that also allows
  PRO           Fox the opportunity to recoup through playoff shares
  BASKETBALL    some of the money lost by signing a smaller contract.
                     And there is the other obvious reason for optimism:
  SPORTING      Fox likes the organization. He has talked to Executive
  NEWS NBA      Vice President Jerry West or General Manager Mitch
                Kupchak every two or three days for the last several
  AP PRO        weeks.
  BASKETBALL         "He's an East Coast person," Kupchak said. "That
                doesn't weigh in our favor. But more importantly, he
  CLIPPERS      wants to win. I think that, obviously, does weigh in our
                favor. He has not said we are longshots. We're right
  LAKERS        there in the middle of it.
                     "We have to hang our hat in his corner now. Whether
  NBA GAME      it's another 10 days, 12 days or 14 days, as long as we
  TRACKER       feel we're in the hunt, we're going to stay in there
                with him."
                     A two-year, $2.15-million offer is on the table.
                The Lakers' pursuit was helped greatly when the Boston
                Celtics, the only team with unlimited spending power,
                renounced Fox to sign Travis Knight. More help came when
                the Indiana Pacers, among those in the market for a
                small forward, traded instead for Chris Mullin.
                     Still, there are teams, some from the East, able to
                make more lucrative offers because of the Lakers'
                salary-cap constraints. Additional aid for the others
                arrived late Friday night, when the cap was expected to
                climb for the second time this off-season, with another
                small future bump possible. Neither will affect the
                Lakers, who already are far over the cap.
                     If the Lakers lose out, Clifford Robinson, who has
                spent his eight-year career with the Portland Trail
                Blazers, is a possibility as a free agent. But the
                Lakers might decide to keep the money until next summer,
                replenishing the bench now with several players at the
                minimum. One prospect, second-round pick Paul Rogers,
                has signed with Real Madrid in Spain, as expected.

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                Copyright Los Angeles Times

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