Clippers Put Ailing Johnson Back on the Bench

The Clippers told Marques Johnson this week that he would be fined and suspended unless he attends games, practices and team events, and the injured star was on the bench for Thursday night’s 125-115 loss to the Sacramento Kings at the Sports Arena.

Johnson, who is out for the season with a neck injury he suffered last Nov. 20, hadn’t attended a Clipper game since January. He and the team are locked in a long-standing contract dispute that is expected to go to arbitration soon.

The team has stopped paying Johnson’s $1.3-million salary because of his injury. A clause in his contract allows the team to spread a year’s salary over two years if he is permanently disabled.

Johnson said team officials never asked him to be at games until now.

“I’m not getting paid, so I don’t see how they can fine me,” he said. “They said I’m permanently disabled. But I’m going to (attend games) out of respect for Elgin.”

Clipper Manager Elgin Baylor phoned Johnson Wednesday to ask him to start coming to games again. Baylor, who is out of town, then dictated a letter by phone and had it sent by messenger to Johnson’s Bel-Air home.

Baylor was not available for comment Thursday.

Said Johnson: “We talked at length, and (Baylor) said he was going to send me a letter as a procedural thing,” Johnson said. “He told me that he felt it would help the team’s morale. He felt it would show that I still support the team regardless of what’s going on with management.

“Nobody ever talked to me before about coming to games,” Johnson said. “I went to a few games after I got injured. I knew I was out for the year and I didn’t see any reason to hang around.

“No one ever approached me before. If they said that they wanted me to come to games I would have been glad to come. I’ve got a (TV satellite) dish at home and I’ve seen as many games as I could.

“I went to a few games after I was injured. Physically I felt fine, but I felt helpless. I remember how it was when Derek (Smith) got hurt last year and I would look over there and see him. I was afraid guys would look over there and see me and (injured guard) Norm (Nixon) and it would start to hurt them psychologically.

“I was trying to distance myself from the team so that they could establish their own identity.”

Johnson said his attorney talked to Larry Fleisher, executive directord of the NBA Players Assn., adding: “Larry said he didn’t think (the Clippers) had a legal right to make me do anything.”

Johnson, 31, said he plans to resume his career after his contract dispute is settled.

“I know I’ve got two good years left,” Johnson said. ‘I know that I can still be productive.”

Johnson met with reporters at halftime of Thursday night’s game. Asked why he attended the game, Johnson merely said: “I just came down here to see how the team is doing. I had a talk with Elgin Baylor (Wednesday), and he said he’d like me to show my face around here.”

The Clippers have 10 games remaining in the regular season, including six at home and another at the Forum against the Lakers Monday night.

Johnson may have to miss games because of the arbitration hearing in New York, although no date has been set for that hearing yet.

Johnson was scheduled to have surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck last week at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center but postponed the surgery so that he would be available to testify at the hearing.