LAKERS MEMORABILIA IS HOT STREET VENDORS REPORT BRISK SALES.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

With the Los Angeles Lakers heading tonight into the NBA championship series, entrepreneurs are cashing in, hawking yellow-and-purple jerseys, flags and hats on street corners and freeway off-ramps throughout the San Fernando Valley.

``We are entrepreneurs with a capital ``e,'' said Rodney Howard, 46, who was out Saturday at Burbank and Sepulveda boulevards, waving a fistful of yellow, purple and white T-shirts.

``Just call me a stockbroker with Laker paraphernalia,'' he said pointing to the silver NBA hologram on his hat as proof of its authenticity. ``When the stocks are high you sell, when they are low you buy - and right now they are high.''

Across the street, horns honked at 30-year-old Jamal Harris, who was selling Laker car flags at $20 a pop.

``Everyone loves a winner and right now they are winners,'' he said.

The NBA, which expects to rake in $3 billion in apparel sales this year alone, estimates that during the championship games they will lose thousands to vendors selling counterfeit products. During the 2002 championships they recovered 15,000 counterfeit pieces.

But officials say not everyone sitting behind a table on a street corner sells counterfeit clothing. Shoppers are urged to look out for those holograms.

The vendors understand there are millions of fans who can never attend a final Lakers game yet still want to be a part of the experience through something more tangible than an image on a TV screen.

``I have a shirt for every year win. I have one with Shaq and Magic,'' said Shirley Esch, a 75-year-old North Hollywood grandmother who plans to watch tonight's game with her bridge club. ``I am just one of those insane fans.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com