Shaq Ready to Go, but Caution Is Word

Shaquille O’Neal, attending his second Laker practice since suffering a left knee injury on Feb. 12, said Sunday that he’s ready to start full-contact workouts.

“Just got to pass a couple of medical tests,” he said, adding that he would like start playing before the regular season ends April 20.

However, Coach Del Harris wasn’t as optimistic.

“You can’t question his willingness to play,” Harris said. “You can question a lot of things in this world, but you can’t question that. Sure, as a coach, I’d love to have him back in time to play a few games before the playoffs.

“But you can’t cave in to pressure. I’ve got to look at the big picture, and the big picture isn’t one year. It’s having a dominating team with Shaq for the next 10 years.”

For O’Neal, practice on Sunday was limited to some light running and shooting.

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Leonard Armato, O’Neal’s agent who attended Sunday’s practice, was still miffed at the NCAA for pulling his client’s Pepsi commercial from CBS’ Final Four coverage.

“If the Pope had said the commercial might have an impact on young people, I might buy it. But not the NCAA,” Armato said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense. What, seeing Shaq in a yellow jersey in a commercial is going to influence kids to quit school and go pro? I don’t think so.”

The yellow jersey that O’Neal wears in the commercial has No. 34 on it but is not a Laker jersey. Armato said O’Neal couldn’t wear his Laker jersey because Coca-Cola has an exclusive deal with the NBA.

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Eddie Jones, who missed the Lakers’ last two games because of a bruised left calf muscle, was almost at full speed in practice and said he expects to play against the Seattle SuperSonics on Tuesday night. . . . Jerome Kersey sprained the little finger on his left hand during practice, but after having trainer Gary Vitti tape it up, he continued to participate in drills. The finger will be examined further today, but Kersey is not expected to miss any action. . . . Robert Horry, participating in contact practice for the second day in a row, said he is still bothered by a tender spot on the inside of his injured left knee. He said he’d like to play Tuesday night at Seattle, but that no one had said anything to him. “The medical people will make that decision,” Harris said, adding he would like to start working him in. “It’ll take three or four games for him to be back to playing normal.”