Abdul-Jabbar Signs for Another Year, Delays Decision on Whether to Play It

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who never figured he would play more than 10 years in the NBA, is signed and sealed, but he is not yet delivered to play an unprecedented 18th season.

The Lakers announced Tuesday before the Laker-Jazz game that Abdul-Jabbar’s $2-million contract has been extended at the same salary for the 1986-87 season.

Abdul-Jabbar, who will turn 40 during that season’s playoffs, still has the option to retire before the start of the season. Abdul-Jabbar said he would do that only if he feels his performance this season is no longer helpful to the Lakers.

“I’ve got to be able to help the team,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “As long as I’m doing that, I see no reason to retire. I’m still near the top of my profession. I don’t see any reason to just to walk away.

“I’m not doing this to set any longevity records,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who already set one on opening night when he began his 17th season in the league.

Both Abdul-Jabbar and the Lakers verbally agreed to the seven-page contract a month ago. The extension, which Abdul-Jabbar signed Friday and the Lakers signed Monday, contains a so-called “courtesy date” by which time Abdul-Jabbar must inform the Lakers whether he intends to play an 18th season.

The exact courtesy date has not been revealed, but it is known that it is in the summer after the NBA college draft.

“It gives them the time to make a deal for another center if they have to . . . some room for maneuvering,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Laker General Manager Jerry West, who said Abdul-Jabbar was the top center in the NBA last season, feels that if Abdul-Jabbar decides against playing the 1986-87 season, the Lakers may need more than time to find a replacement.

“Our alternatives may not be very good anyway, if you compare another center to him,” West said.

When Abdul-Jabbar retires, the salary cap permits the Lakers to spend half of Abdul-Jabbar’s $2-million salary for a replacement. But the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, which includes the salary cap provisions, expires at the same time as Abdul-Jabbar’s contract extension.

In the absence of a new union contract, the Lakers may not face money constrictions in signing a replacement for Abdul-Jabbar.

There is already some speculation that the Lakers might try to sign Houston Rocket center Ralph Sampson, who would be a free agent at the end of the 1986-87 season. Sampson, like Abdul-Jabbar, is a client of agent Tom Collins.