Robinson Is Landed by Spurs : NBA’s Top Pick Will Sign With San Antonio Today

Ensign David Robinson, the No. 1 choice in the National Basketball Assn. draft last June, will sign with the San Antonio Spurs today, team Chairman Angelo Drossos said Thursday.

Robinson thereby canceled what figured to be the most expensive auction ever, if he had decided to become a free agent at the end of his two-year Navy hitch. Until that time, Robinson--currently stationed in King’s Bay, Ga.--will not be able to play for the Spurs.

Robinson’s signing also ended speculation that the league’s elite teams--particularly the Lakers and the Boston Celtics--had the inside track on the services of the 7-foot 1-inch center, who was College Player of the Year last season at the U.S. Naval Academy.

The Lakers, for example, signed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to a two-year, $5-million contract last June--$2 million this season, $3 million next. It was commonly assumed that they did so in order to gain maneuverability under the salary cap--they would have been able to use half of Abdul-Jabbar’s 1988-89 salary, or $1.5 million, in any bid for Robinson.

“My public comment is, great for San Antonio,” said Laker General Manager Jerry West, who declined further comment.

Robinson, his family, and his agent, Lee Fentress of Advantage International, will fly to San Antonio this morning to sign the contract in a public ceremony at the Hemisfair Arena.

“It’s all just falling into place,” an ecstatic Drossos said Thursday.

No terms of the contract were announced, but it is believed that Robinson will sign for a package in excess of the 10-year, $31.2-million contract signed by Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks in 1985.

One report called it an eight-year deal for a total of $26 million, including $1 million payable immediately.

The San Antonio Express-News broke the story of Robinson’s agreeing to terms Thursday morning after talking to Carl Liebert, Robinson’s roommate at the Naval Academy.

“David called me (Wednesday) and told me he’d be wearing the black and silver of the Spurs,” Liebert said.

“David told me, ‘They have done everything to make me happy. How can I turn down a situation like that?’

“He said he will be paid what he asked for . . . David said, ‘They have been honest and fair with me, and I can’t turn (the contract) down.”’

If the Spurs had not signed Robinson, he would have been eligible to go back into the draft next June--a point disputed by San Antonio officials, who said that he would have remained Spur property under a league bylaw concerning military service.

If Robinson had chosen not to sign the following year, as well, he would have been in the unique position of being a true free agent, unencumbered by such devices as offer sheets and rights of first refusal, which typically restrict the movement of NBA free agents.

That’s why there were many around the league who expected Robinson to bide his time and entertain all offers, rather than sign with the Spurs, who operate in one of the league’s smallest markets.

Only the Clippers drew fewer fans last season than the Spurs, who were 28-54 and missed the playoffs for the second time in four seasons. The Spurs did not appear once on network TV last season, and made just two appearances as part of the league’s cable TV package.

Robinson visited San Antonio in September and, while expressing appreciation at the elaborate reception he was given--a helicopter tour of the city, two meetings with Mayor Henry Cisneros--he remained noncommittal.

But after 10 days of negotiations between Drossos and agent Fentress, Robinson decided his future was in San Antonio.

“It was not only the contract he was happy about,” Liebert said. “He was positive about the whole situation.”

How desperate were the Spurs for Robinson? Their centers this season are ex-Laker reserves Frank Brickowski and Petur Gudmundsson and ex-Clipper Kurt Nimphius.