Lakers Ask Abdul-Jabbar to Stay Two More Years

There could be yet another change in the retirement plans of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has said that he plans to make next season his last after postponing the decision to quit several other times.

The Lakers would like Abdul-Jabbar to return for two more years, which would take the NBA’s oldest player through his 42nd birthday and give him 20 seasons in the league.

And it’s probably no coincidence that by that time, Navy’s David Robinson could be eligible to sign with the Lakers as a free agent--assuming college basketball’s best player does not sign with a team that drafts him either this season or next.

Laker General Manager Jerry West intends to meet Tuesday with Leonard Armato, Abdul-Jabbar’s attorney, to continue negotiations for a two-year contract.

The Lakers are attempting to structure a deal for Abdul-Jabbar that would include a substantial amount of deferred compensation. There may be some snags, however, since league rules stipulate that teams are allowed to defer only 30% of a player’s contract.

Abdul-Jabbar has maintained all season that he plans to retire following the 1987-88 season. But three weeks ago, Laker owner Jerry Buss approached Abdul-Jabbar about the possibility of staying longer.

“He really didn’t say an awful lot about it--he seemed a little surprised that I said that,” said Buss, who is here to watch the Lakers attempt to close out the Seattle SuperSonics this afternoon in the Western Conference finals.

The Lakers lead the series, 3 games to 0, and a victory today (Channel 2, noon) would give them a sweep and a record of 11-1 in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Abdul-Jabbar has declined interviews with the Times since publication of a story in April detailing his considerable financial problems--he has filed a $59-million lawsuit against his former agent, Tom Collins, and may have lost at least $5 million in bad investments.

But on Sunday, when asked by another reporter whether next season was definitely his last, Abdul-Jabbar nodded, but added:

“It would take something very, very drastic (to stay).”

It’s no mystery, Buss said, as to why the Lakers want to prolong Abdul-Jabbar’s career.

“Anybody who can get 28 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game, you wonder why he’d want to retire,” said Buss, referring to Abdul-Jabbar’s performance Saturday in Game 3 against Seattle.

“With Kareem, we’ve always taken it a year at a time, to see how he felt about things,” Buss said. “That’s why we had to wait until the playoffs.”

Abdul-Jabbar, the most prolific scorer in the history of the league, finished as the Lakers’ third-leading scorer this season with a career-low 17.5 points a game after leading the team in each of the last 11 seasons.

This season, for the first time, Abdul-Jabbar was no longer the focal point of the Laker offense, as Magic Johnson assumed the scoring burden. The 7-2 center played fewer minutes this season--averaging 31.3 a game--than any season other than 1977-78, when he missed 20 games after breaking his hand with a punch he threw at Milwaukee’s Kent Benson.

But Abdul-Jabbar, who added extra bulk with a weight-lifting regimen last summer, raised his rebounding average from 6.1 last season to 6.7, and had double figures in rebounds 13 times, compared with 5 times last season.

He remains in extraordinary condition, missing only three games because of an eye infection in December.

Saturday against Seattle, Abdul-Jabbar was unusually active and aggressive, leaping several times for rebounds and fighting for position to launch his sky hook. He made 8 of his first 9 shots and was 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.

“Nothing he does surprises me, nothing at all,” West said Sunday from his home in Los Angeles. “He was really into the game, and it’s obvious that not only is he still competitive, but he still likes what he’s doing.”

And the Lakers would like nothing more than for Abdul-Jabbar to continue what he’s doing--at least until they can find a successor.

That successor could conceivably be Robinson, the 7-1 midshipman whose professional career must wait until he completes a two-year service commitment to the Navy, per order of Navy Secretary James Webb.

The San Antonio Spurs, who won the league’s draft lottery on May 10, have announced that they intend to use their No. 1 pick to draft Robinson. But league sources indicate that Spurs president Angelo Drossos, as a possible hedge against not signing Robinson, has contacted at least one other NBA team about a possible trade involving the rights to Robinson.

The Navy star, however, is in a unique position: Since he can’t play for the next two seasons, anyway, there would appear to be no compelling reason for him to sign now, given the extraordinary price he could command as a free agent, unless he was seeking protection against injury in the interim.

The Lakers cannot contact Robinson without San Antonio’s permission, nor can they comment on their interest in him, without risking a a substantial fine from the league office.

West, however, has been effusive in his praise of Robinson, likening him to some of the best centers in the game’s history--Bill Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Akeem Olajuwon.

Magic Johnson, who infused new life into Abdul-Jabbar’s career when he joined the Lakers eight years ago, was asked before the NBA lottery whether he’d like to be the one to introduce Robinson to the pro game.

“That would be great, and he’d fit right in, too,” Magic said.

“Whoever gets him, if they’re a winning team, he’ll definitely carry that team to a championship. Nobody like him is going to come out for a long time.”

There is a question whether the Lakers could afford Robinson under the league’s salary cap. That issue may become moot, however, if the NBA Players Assn. succeeds in its attempt to eliminate the salary cap--as well as the draft and right of first refusal for team agents--in its negotiations with owners on a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires on the last day of the season.

Another scenario: If Robinson wanted to play badly enough for the Lakers, he could agree to sign a one-year contract for a lesser figure than he could get elsewhere, with the assumption that the Lakers would compensate him handsomely in the future.

In the meantime, the Lakers believe that Abdul-Jabbar’s continued presence would keep them a winner.

“It’s all the little subtle things he does, even when he’s not scoring,” West said. “All the intricate parts of this team is what makes it so good.”