Steve Aschburner, Sports Illustrated

As Mitch Kupchak makes the basketball rounds this spring, from Pauley Pavilion to Staples Center to any of the other venues where his current (the Lakers) or future players (potential draft picks) are active, you won’t see a satisfied smile plastered across his face. No smug look, wry expression or “told-you-so” smirk, either.

Just when the Lakers’ general manager ought to be going all Cheshire cat on us, with nothing so visible as his ear-to-ear grin, he sounds as edgy and fretful as a diehard SuperSonics fan, as if his world might crumble at any moment.

“I’m not sure NBA general managers enjoy the season,” Kupchak said by phone Thursday, a couple of hours before scouting the Stanford-UCLA clash in Westwood. “I certainly don’t. Upon the conclusion of the season, you look back on it and what you’ve done as a team. Then, if you exceed what you thought your team could do, there’s a degree of satisfaction at that point in time. But it’s way too early.

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