3 Los Angeles Lakers

Next to the legal puzzle that is Kobe Bryant, the most intriguing question surrounding the purple and gold is, Which of the team's four future Hall of Famers will sublimate his game for the good of the team?

The answer did not emerge during the preseason, because answers rarely do in exhibition games and because, at week's end, Bryant hadn't played in any. But Karl Malone has volunteered to give up his share of shots, "if it has to be me," he says. Should Malone, who needs to average 12.3 points over all 164 games the next two seasons to eclipse Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's alltime leading scorer, severely cut down his attempts so that Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Payton get theirs, he will be making a sacrifice he never made in Utah.

"I was in ankle-deep water for 18 years, never took a dangerous step, content as hell," says Malone, who accepted the veteran minimum (two years, $3 million), allowing the Lakers to also sign Payton. "But I looked, and there was a big bowl over there, water swirling. I don't know if I'm going in over my head, but I'm stepping in." Malone threw in another metaphor: "I look at this as going on a two-year mission, a championship mission. We do it all the time in Utah."

Coach Phil Jackson sees his main on-the-court challenges as getting Payton to make the Lakers a transition team and getting one of his two hulks to become what he calls his postlane sprinter—i.e., the big man who joins the fast break. Considering that O'Neal reported to camp in shape for a change, that competition might be more interesting than it originally seemed. Says Malone, probably one of the world's fastest 40-year-olds, "It's Shaq's, Kobe's and Phil's team. But I know this: Everyone will know I'm here."