POSTGAME CHORUS IS FOR MODICUM OF STABILITY.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Out of the Forum, into the fire, the Lakers face a summer that will make the past 100 days feel like peace and quiet.

They can be sure of only one thing - Dennis Rodman is not coming back.

And who else?

Glen Rice, J.R. Reid and Derek Fisher could depart as free agents. Shaquille O'Neal's opt-out clause kicks in this summer. That's four-fifths of the starting lineup.

Interim head coach Kurt Rambis is a long shot to stay in spite of executive vice president Jerry West's assessment that he did ``a very credible job under difficult circumstances.''

And West himself is no lock to continue, meaning the franchise could lose the genius it'll need to sort all this out.

There's even speculation Chick Hearn will hang up his hairpiece rather than move downtown with the team.

In the Lakers' locker room Sunday evening, players stripped off the gold and purple and wondered aloud if it was the last time, as unceremonious as their 118-107 defeat and four-game sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs might have been.

``I don't think we really know the future of this team,'' said veteran guard Derek Harper - who might retire - said before reciting the list of potential free agents that each Laker seems to have committed to memory. ``A lot of things are up in the air right now.''

What will and what should happen?

Player opinions ranged from Fisher's ``change is inevitable'' to Rice's plea to keep the roster intact and let the players mature together, tra la.

``In no way should you break it up,'' Rice said. ``Look at the great teams. They've been together and they've gotten to know each other.''

If that sounds like what they were saying after last year's playoff sweep, that's because it is what they were saying.

Of course, then management traded point guard Nick Van Exel in the summer, replaced head coach Del Harris with the rookie Rambis two weeks into the new season, undertook what Robert Horry referred to Sunday as ``the Rodman Era,'' and traded for a matching set of new forwards.

If that's what happened after last season - which ended with the roster so stable that not a single key player was able to leave as a free agent - then what are they in for now?

Break 'em up? Keep 'em together? If only it were up to the front office.

``Hopefully in the next two or three months we'll find a way to improve ourselves. The first thing everyone needs to do is relax,'' West said outside the locker room. ``We do have talent, but we need to be more cohesive.''

OK, relaxation's over.

Now, the choices:

West: Stressed out as always, he first refused to discuss his future Sunday and then said, ``I've got awhile to be here yet.'' He wouldn't leave the Lakers at a time like this.

Rambis: He didn't show he's not up to the job. He didn't show he is, either. When players were given opportunities to endorse him Sunday, none did.

Rambis' best hope is that Jerry Buss will get a load of the sticker prices for proven coaches.

O'Neal: Could leave. But there's no reason to think he would. He's probably dreaming up the next big Lakers trade as we speak.

Rice: Lakers hold an option for one more season at $7.1 million. Rice would like to double that. Keep him and make him unhappy? Sign a richer new deal?

Rice didn't fit in with O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and he still wants to remake the offense in his image. Sign him and trade him for - stop me if you've heard this before - a power forward or a point guard.

Fisher: Said the chance to win, not the chance to make more money will be his priority in choosing a team for 2000. Meaning he'd like to stay.

But young Tyronn Lue's 29 minutes Sunday looked like an audition for the point-guard job. Where does the chance to start fit on Fisher's priority list?

Harper: Frustrated that his ``leadership'' role diminished under Rambis but with a year to go on his Lakers contract, the 37-year-old point guard's only alternative is retirement. Great guy to have around although Rambis kept him on the bench Sunday.

Reid: Nice try guarding Charles Barkley and Tim Duncan, but he's not the power forward the Lakers need, so they'll probably let him walk.

Rick Fox: Under the new NBA agreement, he can get a bigger raise from the Lakers than a backup small forward with a problem foot would get by going free-agent. Fox could wind up a starter again if Rice is traded.

Horry: With three years left on his contract, he said he's ``not shipped to anywhere cold.'' That will depend on one thing, what somewhere cold could give the Lakers in return.

Horry's all for keeping the Lakers together and letting them get to know each other, just as he was a year ago today, when the Jazz swept them out of the playoffs.

``And you see!'' Horry said. ``We had a lot of damn changes, so we couldn't get to know each other.''

At this point, if you're one of the six Lakers left from '98, stability might look like the most welcome change of all.

``I hope we get that opportunity (to stay together),'' Fisher said. ``But the reality is we probably won't.''

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PHOTO Lakers Rick Fox, left, and Kobe Bryant double-team Tim Duncan without much success. The Spurs center stayed calm and was the star of the series.

Tina Gerson/Daily News