DIVAC, CLIPPERS: A STERLING MATCH?

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

Shoot a basket, shake a hand. That was Vlade Divac's warmup routine before the Charlotte Hornets' game against the Lakers Sunday night at the Forum.

The Yugoslavian-born Divac broke into the NBA with the Lakers in 1989 and spent seven seasons with the team before being traded to Charlotte in July of 1996 for the rights to Kobe Bryant. From the rousing reception he received before, during and after the game, it was clear Divac's love affair with L.A. is not unrequited.

Divac admits he is homesick. Donald Sterling, are you listening?

Rookie Maurice Taylor is a fine center, as was borne out in his 26-point performance in 24 minutes against the Lakers last Friday. Room should be made, though, for Divac, whose appeal transcends his rebounding, shot-blocking and scoring abilities.

He is a genuine character, his accented English and unadulterated earnestness central to his appeal. He also is a character actor, having appeared in a handful of movies and T.V. shows, though his wife Ana is the real thespian in the family.

Divac, 29, is colorful enough to attract a few more fans to the L.A. Sports Arena on game nights, but that's not why Sterling should clear his calculator and make extricating Divac from the Hornets a priority this summer.

The ninth-year player is the rare NBA veteran who wouldn't have to be dragged to the Clippers kicking and screaming. He already has let it be known he wouldn't be adverse to playing for Sterling's team, which should be all the encouragement Sterling needs to proceed.

Sterling, a lawyer by trade, owns huge chunks of land in L.A. If he ran his real-estate business the way he does the Clippers, acres upon acres of Beverly Hills would sit weed-choked but otherwise empty.

To spruce up the antiquated Sports Arena with Divac, it wouldn't require a hard sell, just a sincere one. The Clippers have the luxury, if you can call it that, of being one of the few teams with enough room under the salary cap to make negotiations uncomfortable for Charlotte, which won't have to count any contract offer it makes to Divac under its cap.

Making Divac an offer he can't refuse this summer would be a significant first step toward convincing free-agent-to-be guard Brent Barry it'd be worth sticking around a few more years.

And while Sterling has his pitch down cold, why not then place an exploratory call to Chicago, where Phil Jackson is in his final season as the coach?

Michael Jordan has said he won't play for any coach but Jackson, so wherever Jackson goes, the greatest player in the game is likely to follow. Why shouldn't it be L.A.? Imagine the delicious fare the crosstown rivalry would give us to chew on. It would be Space Jam (Jordan) versus Kazaam (the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal); Nike (Jordan) versus Reebok (O'Neal); His Airness (Jordan) vs. His Air Apparent (Kobe Bryant).

It would be great theatre.

And it would be ``very difficult'' to make happen, Divac said when the pie-in-the-sky scenario was thrown at him.

For his part, Divac is keeping an open mind - and his ears open. ``I'll go where the best situation is for me,'' said Divac, who could streamline his life considerably by coming to the Clippers.

Right now his wife and two sons, Luka, 6, and Matia, 4, are dividing their time between Charlotte and their permanent residence in Pacific Palisades, which is also home to 10 parakeets, two dogs and numerous fish and turtles. Ana and the two kids stay in Charlotte when the Hornets are at home, then hit the road for L.A. when the team takes off.

Next year Luka will enter first grade so the family will need to settle down in one place. So, can Divac see himself playing in the Sports Arena?

``I can,'' he said, squinting as if trying to imagine it right there in the visitors' dressing room at the Forum. ``But it's hard.''

It's much easier for Divac to picture himself sitting in the backyard of his Palisades home, smoking a cigar and listening to the cheery cacophony of his menagerie.

``I really enjoy watching what's going on,'' he said. ``It's nice.''

Divac was talking about his backyard but he could have been speaking about the metropolis in which it sits.

``L.A. is the only city I've ever felt homesick for,'' he has said. ``It's a part of me.''

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PHOTO Charlotte Hornets center and former Laker Vlade Divac, center, would love to return to Los Angeles - even if it were with the Clippers.

Daily News File Photo