In Brief : NBA Players Favor Pros in Olympics

Almost two-thirds of NBA players think professionals should be allowed in the Olympics, but only 58% said they would play if they could, according to a survey by the Associated Press.

The majority of those opposed to participation said that the Games are better suited to college players and that NBA players would make a travesty of competition. Others said that it would disrupt their family life or that they doubted NBA owners would let them play.

The international governing body for basketball is expected to vote Friday at Munich, West Germany, to open Olympic basketball to professional players beginning with the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

“I would go in a heartbeat,” said Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz. “I’d pay my own ticket over there. It teed me off when the Russians were high-fiving like they had beaten America’s best, and I knew they hadn’t.”