NBA Players Still Reluctant to Go for Gold : Commissioner: But Stern says problems might be resolved in time for pros to become Olympians.

For Americans eager to see the unveiling of the Magic Johnson-Michael Jordan backcourt in red, white and blue for the 1992 Olympics, NBA Commissioner David Stern advises patience.

Stern said at his All-Star game news conference Saturday that he “can’t say definitely” his players will become Olympians.

Yet to be resolved are the causes of the NBA players’ hesitation: Olympic tryouts; giving up a summer to qualify before the actual competition (the U.S. finished second in Seoul and lost its automatic bid); living in the Olympic Village; being told what brand of shoes and uniforms to wear in conflict with their personal endorsement deals.

“The players’ reaction is, they don’t want to go through a two-week boot camp and go stay in an Olympic Village situation,” said the league’s new deputy commissioner, Russ Granik.

“But if it can be done where they don’t have to do the trials and they can get the kind of treatment our players are used to, we think the overwhelming majority want to play.

“The qualifying round is a big problem for us. It’s one thing to ask our players to devote the four or five weeks that may be necessary to train and participate in the Olympics, but to spend the whole summer at it is really unfair, based on the kind of schedule you all know they have. We’re not anywhere near a solution yet.

“It’s still in the talking stage, but there won’t be trials to make the Olympic team. I think it’s clear the kind of system they’ve had for college players in the past where they bring 50-60 players in, that again is not something that’s going to be fair to ask our players. There has to be some system in which our players are selected in advance. But it’s a long way from being decided.”

Granik serves on the board of USA Basketball, which runs the Olympic team, along with Charles Grantham, the head of the NBA Players Assn.

Their first problem is determining who will play in the Pan-American qualifications.

Pro players won’t be eager to play; U.S. college teams proved they aren’t invincible by losing to Brazil in the ’86 Pan-Am Games at Indianapolis.

Nevertheless, USA Basketball seems to be moving toward some kind of mixed system, in which a team composed primarily of college players would attempt to qualify, and an NBA-dominated team would go to the Barcelona Games.

“I think it’s possible that we could be looking at something like that.” Granik said. “With maybe a few slots (on the Olympic team) for people that played well in the qualifications.”

There are some precedents for solving the NBA players’ objections. Many pro tennis stars at the Seoul Games spurned the Olympic Village for hotel suites downtown, so the NBA players have only their fellow competitors to face in the big race for luxury billeting.

The NBA will hold its annual preseason international tournament in Barcelona this year. “We’ll be over there to check out the hotel accommodations,” Granik said. “So maybe we can make a deal.”

Notes

The Knicks and a team from Barcelona will play in this season’s preseason tournament, which will open Barcelona’s 15,000-seat Olympic basketball facility Oct. 11-13. Two more European teams will be selected after this summer’s European Cup. . . . David Stern, on the probability of a Canadian city joining the NBA in this decade: “I would say yes, if I were a betting man--which I’m not. Charles Barkley, where are you?” (Stern fined the 76er forward and Knick guard Mark Jackson $5,000 each for making playful wagers when their teams played each other).

The NBA had to pressure Barkley to play in the All-Star game rather than rest because of a pulled groin muscle. “We told him all of you (the media) would love to be here with him,” Stern said. Said Barkley, with customary diplomacy: “The league forced me to come here. I’m not going to say who. But I see their point. I don’t agree with it, but I see it.”

Barkley on Karl Malone’s recent ankle injury, which enabled the Jazz forward to honor his vow to skip the All-Star game because he lost to the Lakers’ A.C. Green in the voting by fans: “I believe he’s hurt. I hope he is. We have to play them next week.”