O’Neal Will Keep Playing

Shaquille O’Neal dragged his left foot from the basketball court Thursday afternoon, 12 days from the start of the NBA season.

His small toe hurt. His ankle hurt.

And nobody seemed too concerned, O’Neal least of all.

He practiced Thursday and intended to play tonight in San Diego, where the Lakers play the Phoenix Suns in an exhibition game. They’ll go from there to Las Vegas, where they are scheduled to play the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.

A day after being unable to practice because of the pain in his ankle, an injury he believed was caused by compensating for his surgically-repaired toe, O’Neal said he’d play whatever minutes Coach Phil Jackson prescribed.

“I’m good,” he said. “I’m just trying to get my wind back. I’m not worried about anything right now. Toe’s still painful. Ankle’s still painful. But it’s a long season. It’ll be fine.”

O’Neal appears heavier than he was last season, probably due in part to an extended recovery that has limited him to six practices and one exhibition game. His conditioning has come slowly, and he still is not jumping well.

“He was obviously favoring it,” Jackson said. “But he wanted to go through practice. He did a good job. He pushed himself a little to get through it.”

There appears to be no fear among the club’s medical officials that O’Neal could be doing more damage to himself, particularly in his ankle, so the plan is for O’Neal to continue to push toward the season.

“I’ll wait and see how he responds [today],” Jackson said. “If he’s fine and wants to play, we’ll play him 20 minutes, 22 minutes, whatever. It’ll be a day-by-day thing right now.”

Though he said his toe “is always throbbing,” O’Neal said he wants to play in the exhibition games.

“You get in basketball shape by playing basketball,” he said.

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Jackson said that Kobe Bryant, who wears a black sleeve on his right leg because of sporadic knee tendinitis, would have been limited Wednesday, another reason he canceled practice just as it was supposed to start.

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Jackson remains convinced the Lakers will start slowly, a belief supported by injuries to O’Neal and Derek Fisher, and the uneven learning curve exhibited by some of his new players.

“Well, it took us three games to beat Golden State,” he said, smiling. “I don’t how many times we play Phoenix, but I know we play them at least twice. So, you know, maybe we can get them [once], then I’ll feel pretty good about a couple teams that are in our conference. Right now, until we show signs of quickness and conditioning and the intensity that you have to play at, we’re still a little bit behind.”