LAKERS GET ADDED SECOND-ROUND PICK.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

The Lakers doubled their draft picks Monday, exercising an option to obtain the New York Knicks' second-round selection, the 53rd overall choice.

The move gives the Lakers two second-round picks in the NBA Draft, to be held June 25 in Charlotte, N.C. The Lakers already own the 51st slot. They do not have a first-round selection this year, having traded it away with Joe Kleine to New Jersey for George McCloud.

The team had until today to exercise the option, which they obtained as part of the Doug Christie trade in 1994. The Lakers also have the option to take the Knicks' 1998 second-round pick.

``I think the feeling is we'll have an opportunity for a couple different players to make the team and that there would be people available at those picks that theoretically could help us,'' said Lakers spokesman John Black.

Whether the draftees make the team will depend in part on the Lakers' ability to re-sign their free agents. Unsigned are forwards Robert Horry, Jerome Kersey and McCloud, center Travis Knight and guard Byron Scott.

The Lakers are concentrating on Horry and Knight.

``The other guys are more of a question mark, depending on what we're able to get in the draft and whether we're able to sign those two guys,'' Black said. ``If we're not able to sign either of them, then it's more important to sign the other (free agents).''

The prospects of bringing Knight back are hampered by the collective-bargaining agreement and salary cap, which limit the Lakers to offering just under $300,000.

``There will be other teams offering him a lot more money than we can offer him,'' Black said. ``That decision is in his hands.''