Mahorn May Face Lawsuit

President Bob Stein of the Minnesota Timberwolves says the National Basketball Assn. expansion team will sue Rick Mahorn if he tries to play in Europe.

Mahorn, who is under contract to Minnesota but hasn’t reported to the team, has a one-year, $750,000 agreement with an Italian team, his agent, Al Waldon, said.

Mahorn reached agreement with Verano in the Italian league on Thursday but has not signed the contract, Waldon said. The deal includes housing and the use of an automobile.

Mahorn’s NBA contract, which has two years left on it, will pay $625,000 this season. He was the Timberwolves’ No. 1 choice in the expansion draft.

Waldon said he and Mahorn are scheduled to leave for Italy on Monday.

“Rick is taking all his stuff with him and, if he likes the city, he won’t be coming back,” Waldon said.

But Stein said that, if Mahorn signs with Verano, the Timberwolves will “hire a correspondent lawyer in Italy and pursue it like crazy over there. In American law, you cannot just walk away from a contract. There is the complication of enforcing it over there, but we would do everything we could to enforce our rights.”

Stein said the NBA has a formalized agreement with Spanish teams that would prevent such a signing, but the league does not have a formalized one with Italy.

“I’m sure the league would help us every way they could to protect the contract,” Stein said.

Said Waldon: “Let them take their legal action. The people in Verano don’t seem to think it is a problem.”