Los Angeles Lakers

City officials will join the Los Angeles Lakers this morning for a victory parade up Broadway to celebrate the team's fifth National Basketball Assn. championship. The parade is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at 9th Street and Broadway, proceeding up Broadway to 1st Street and across 1st Street to the south lawn of City Hall, between Spring and Main streets. Riding in the lead car--the mayor's vintage convertible--will be Mayor Tom Bradley and his wife and Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers.

I teach sixth grade in Los Angeles. About once a month we have a "non-uniform day," which the students love. We had one last week, and there was no Laker gear, but for the first time, plenty of Clipper jerseys. Don't worry, Laker fans, you can stock up at JCPenney. Last time I looked, Laker T-shirts had been reduced to $7.99. ROBERT LADUE Los Angeles As many NBA players and fans are getting ready to honor our favorites in the All-Star game, we Laker fans prepare to honor Kwame Brown.

What papers in the Salt Lake City area are saying about the series: LOREN JORGENSEN, THE DESERET NEWS Thank you, Rony Seikaly. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's what the Utah Jazz have to be thinking right now. The two players the Jazz unceremoniously sent packing to Orlando for Seikaly three months ago, Greg Foster and Chris Morris, both came up huge Saturday afternoon in Utah's surprisingly easy 112-77 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Game 2 will no doubt be closer.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 38,387 points in his NBA career -- a big reason why a spot is now reserved for his image in bronze outside Staples Center. On Nov. 16, it will become the sixth artwork in an extremely popular array of sports statuary at the venue. The unveiling announced Thursday by the Los Angeles Lakers, who co-commissioned the piece with Staples Center, means another score for the Rottblatt-Amrany studio of Highwood, Ill., which created the three statues of Lakers greats already on the plaza.

Winning the highest-stakes bidding war in American sports history, the Lakers signed Shaquille O'Neal away from the Orlando Magic on Thursday, giving him a $120-million, seven-year contract that tilted the balance of power in the NBA with the stroke of a pen. The deal is thought to have an "out," a clause making O'Neal a free agent again in three years, enabling him to test the market anew if rising inflation or other stars' salaries eat into his deal.

After reading in your interview with Phil Jackson about his plans to bring back so many Chicago players, it looks as if the Lakers will be the Recycle-a-Bulls. MARY DRUMMOND, Glendale Memo to Phil Jackson: Tex Winter's triangle offense was very impressive with Michael Jordan. It wasn't very impressive without Jordan. In case you haven't noticed, Michael Jordan is not a Laker. He's not even a Bull. If he were still a Bull, you wouldn't be a Laker. RON TRIMBLE, Lakewood No disrespect to Phil Jackson, but the last thing the Lakers need is a bunch of ex-Chicago Bulls turning the Staples Center into the United Center West.