At 33, It’s Still Worth a Shot : Pro Basketball: Marques Johnson wants to find out if he’s still of NBA caliber, even though he knows it means accepting a reserve role.

They spoke face to face, Johnson to Johnson, last summer after another afternoon of pickup basketball at UCLA. Marques wanted to hear it straight from Magic, the unqualified truth:

“Can I still play?”

Marques needed to know. It had been three seasons since he had last played in the National Basketball Assn. His once-flourishing career had ended, or so everyone thought, 10 games into the 1986-87 season when he suffered a ruptured cervical disk in his neck after running head-on into Clipper teammate Benoit Benjamin’s stomach.

Since then, Johnson had kept his distance from basketball, having received varying reports from doctors about the degrees of danger if he were to play with his neck condition.

Further, Johnson’s 18-month-old son drowned shortly after that injury, and life seemed difficult enough to handle without giving the NBA another stab. But last summer, at 33, Johnson picked up a ball and a sense of purpose. Before he made a move, however, he had to know whether he was fooling himself. That was when he approached Magic.

The reply: “You can play. Not the way you used to play, but good enough to play in this league.”

Given that encouragement, Marques thought of a team that needed an older, heavier, step-slower, 6-foot-7 swingman trying to revive his career.

Don Nelson, coach of the eclectic Golden State Warriors, seemed the logical choice. Nelson had coached Johnson during his All-Star years with the Milwaukee Bucks before Johnson was traded to the Clippers in 1984.

They are reunited now, and it appears that Johnson has earned the 12th, and final, roster spot. Trying to switch to power forward on a team that can use lineups either very tall or small, Johnson is struggling to adjust his game and help the Warriors strictly in a supporting role.

If this seems quite a comedown for Johnson, a five-time All-Star and 1986 comeback player of the year who boasts a career scoring average of 20.3 points a game, well, it is.

But even though he is 10 to 15 pounds heavier than during his halcyon days, even though he has lost many of his dips and spins and other moves around the basket, and even though he might not play much should he make the team, Johnson wants to give it a try just to see if he still can do it.

Over the weekend, Johnson returned to Los Angeles with the Warriors for two games in a four-team exhibition tournament at the Forum. He was not particularly impressive, but he wasn’t outclassed, either. He scored seven points in 20 minutes against Cleveland Saturday and eight points in 23 minutes against Philadelphia Sunday.

“He’s done really well,” Nelson said. “He’s not there yet, but he can get pretty close to where he was. I don’t think there’s anything magical about 33. I think he can get back to the way he played when he was younger.

“At the start (of training camp), he was questioning himself. This isn’t the playground or UCLA in the summer against the Lakers. There are some killers in this league who won’t go easy. You won’t see the change in two weeks. But in one or two months, he’ll be making those layups he’s missing now.”

Johnson, actually, seems less optimistic--or more realistic--than Nelson.

“I can’t do the things I used to and I’ve come to terms with that,” Johnson said. “I just want to try and play again in the league.

“It was a struggle for me the first couple of years (after the accident). I was uncertain whether I wanted to (play), whether I could play. It was also whether my neck could hold up.” Johnson’s neck injury, which left him with temporary paralysis, was the most serious concern. Clipper doctors recommended corrective, albeit risky, neck surgery. Other doctors Johnson contacted, however, determined that surgery was not required, but that playing with his neurological condition might be risky, too.

“Everything is stabilized now,” Johnson said. “The doctors I’ve seen have assured me of that. There is no risk of paralysis. I feel confident about that. I’ve been hit enough upside the head to know that I can take (the pounding).

“At first, I was real nervous. I didn’t know whether I was going to reinjure myself. But it got to the point where I’ve been hit enough that I don’t even think about it. When I play now, it’s not a factor.”

Three years of a relatively sedentary existence have created a problem, though.

Johnson played his first game since 1986 last July during Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s tour of Australia with a group of former NBA players. It was not a success, Johnson conceded. He was always winded and his skills were not sharp.

“That was more discouraging than encouraging,” Johnson said. “That Australian team we played against, they had been together for a long time and were in playing shape, and we had a tough time.

“After that, I really questioned doing this.”

Johnson returned to Los Angeles late last summer somewhat dejected but not defeated. He started frequenting UCLA, where Magic Johnson, A.C. Green and others play pickup games. Johnson said he held his own in those free-form games, which heartened him.

Doubt still lingered, however. So, Marques asked Magic’s advice.

“I just asked him point-blank, and he had a lot of positive things to say,” Marques said. “His opinion helped, but the question is always going to be there. I mean, it has been three years.”

Magic said he did not want to discourage Marques but did not want to lead him on, either.

“I told him what I thought, that he could still make it in this league,” Magic said. “Any time you take that much time off, you got to wonder. He kind of caught me off guard when he asked me. I can’t imagine what it is like to be a (star) and then come back like this. But I know he is serious about it. He’s very dedicated, a true professional.”

Marques Johnson simply hopes to be a professional again. He can accept not being a star. He can accept sitting more than playing. He can even accept it if Nelson cuts him. In his mind, though, he still believes he can play. Now, it is up to his body to cooperate.