Text messages from press row . . .

The Lakers, in danger of losing Sasha Vujacic, probably wish they could get back the money they lavished on Luke Walton, who signed a six-year, $30-million contract last summer and then rarely lived up to it last season. ...

Brent Barry, who owns a home in Hermosa Beach, would have been a great Plan B should Vujacic bolt, but the Houston Rockets signed him two weeks ago. ...

Mitch Kupchak and the Lakers, by the way, still have as many as five roster spots to fill -- they have 10 players under contract -- and already are on the hook for $75.1 million next season, about $4 million over the luxury-tax threshold. ...

Joe Torre, on pace to lose 83 games in his first season with the Dodgers, never lost more than 70 in 12 seasons with the New York Yankees. ...

Reader Chris Barreno of Redondo Beach wonders, “Is it possible for an owner -- we’ll use Frank McCourt as an example -- to fire himself?” ...

Wouldn’t Donald Sterling have already considered that? ...

Vladimir Guerrero and the Angels play only 10 home games in September, which won’t be a factor if they continue winning with regularity on the road and pulling away from the Oakland A’s in the American League West. ...

We know about the hitting prowess, but Tim McCarver says Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners is the best right fielder since Roberto Clemente. ...

New Clippers cornerstones Baron Davis and Marcus Camby are reputed to be injury-prone but sat out only three games between them last season, Davis playing in all 82 for the Golden State Warriors. ...

Speaking of the Warriors, Southland copy editors rejoiced Thursday when it was announced that Kelenna Azubuike would be returning to the team after it matched the Clippers’ three-year, $9-million contract offer for the shooting guard. ...

The PGA Championship, Aug. 7-10 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich., faces a double whammy: no Tiger Woods and an unfavorable date on the calendar, the opening weekend of the Olympics. ...

Is Pete Carroll ever blase? ...

The excitable USC football coach, whose teams have won six consecutive Pacific 10 Conference titles and six consecutive BCS bowl games, says he has “never been more pumped about a year’s start,” senses “a whole new excitement about our program” and notes, “We have a chance to do something really special.” ...

Doesn’t he say that every year? ...

Still in school: USC linebackers Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing are both former Rose Bowl defensive players of the game. ...

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel, asked by a 50-something reporter to assess the Bruins’ quarterback situation, “Do you have any eligibility?” ...

Dylan Rush, who would have been a sophomore fullback this season, tells the Honolulu Advertiser that he quit the UCLA football program to sign with Venice-based King’s Sports and is pursuing a career in mixed martial arts. ...

Reader Andrea Warren of Torrance, noting that Luc Robitaille, Bernie Nicholls and Marcel Dionne are among the former stars scheduled to take part in a Kings fantasy camp in September, e-mails to ask, “Considering the bargain-basement, no-talent scrubs AEG has thrown on the ice the past few seasons, can they consider trying out for a spot with the big boys instead?” ...

U.S. Olympic baseball Coach Davey Johnson and China Coach Jim Lefebvre were the starting second basemen in the 1966 World Series, won by Johnson’s Baltimore Orioles in a sweep over Lefebvre’s punchless Dodgers. ...

Baseball exits the Olympics after the Beijing Games. ...

Leonard Armato, commissioner and chief executive of the AVP Tour, says of an NCAA committee’s voting this month to add “sand” volleyball to a list of women’s sports being considered for intercollegiate competition, “It’s obviously an exciting development and a tribute to the sport’s growing popularity.” ...

Forty schools must sign on to make it a championship sport. ...

After a one-year absence because of health concerns, basketball coaching legend Pete Newell, 92, plans to be there for his 32nd annual Big Man Camp next week in Las Vegas, where the former Lakers general manager will be joined by oldest son Pete Jr., a former Santa Cruz High coach and 2005 California Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame inductee, and grandson Peter, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who will be a freshman next season at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif. ...

Yes, that’s a Three-Pete.

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