NBA NOTES : Sometimes Ewing Not That Big

Magic Johnson made the NBA proud in September when he gave up $100,000 in salary to allow the Lakers enough salary-cap room to trade for Terry Teagle, a player Johnson believed would help the Lakers win a championship.

The Lakers, of course, were thrilled. Interestingly, they were not the only ones. An entire league celebrated Johnson’s unselfishness.

The league office was ecstatic. It was another public-relations coup. Athletes are often portrayed as greedy and selfish. But here was a three-time MVP, one of the greatest basketball players ever, demonstrating that NBA players can be a different breed.

Even executives of other NBA teams were proud of Johnson. He set an example. He showed that great players could make monetary sacrifices in pursuit of championship goals.

And now we have Patrick Ewing, who, in terms of focus, seems to be the polar opposite of Johnson. Late Saturday night, a few minutes after the Knicks blew a 17-point third-quarter lead and lost to the Celtics in the home opener, Ewing complained about Knicks management. The subject of his complaint said much about his goals for the team.

He did not criticize the Knicks for their lack of trade activity. He did not lash out at teammates, who often have been criticized as selfish. He did not vent his frustration because he had not been surrounded with enough talent to compete for a title.

Patrick Ewing, who will make more than $4 million this season and has the contractual right to earn close to $6 million next season, complained because the Knicks have conspired to underpay him in his next contract.

It is safe to assume Ewing will not follow Johnson’s example of giving up part of his salary to improve the team. But just to make sure, I asked him after the Knicks blew a 16-point second-quarter lead and lost to the Mavericks in their second home game of the season.

Q: If you had to give up money to get a player that would help the team ...

A: Give up? Nobody gave up any money. It was deferred.

Q: I know Michael (Jordan) didn’t. But Magic did.

A: He deferred.

Q: Would you defer to get a good player?

A: Yeah, I’d defer to get a good player. It depends on who it is.

Q: How about give up?

A: Like I said, defer.

It has been widely reported that Jordan, who, like Ewing, is represented by David Falk, took a pay cut to allow the Bulls to trade for Dennis Hopson. As Ewing noted, that’s not true. Although Ewing obviously is unaware that Johnson gave up the $100,000, in Jordan’s case, he was right. Jordan’s contract was re-structured, and as Bulls vice president Jerry Krause said, “It didn’t cost him a cent.”

Nevertheless, Jordan is on record as saying he would give up salary if it would help the Bulls win a title.

An interesting part of this salary controversy is that no numbers have been leaked, either by Falk or the Knicks. At this moment, this is not a popular assumption in New York, but let’s assume the Knicks aren’t stupid. They know they have to offer Ewing a contract averaging at least $6 million, and probably much more. But for the sake of the argument, let’s say it’s a seven-year contract worth more than $40 million, which, judging by the way NBA salaries have risen in recent years, could ultimately be low for a player of Ewing’s stature.

Still, it’s a lot. And the reason numbers haven’t been publicized is that no one who cares anything about Ewing -- his agent or the Knicks -- would want such numbers released because it wouldn’t quite fit in with the notion that Ewing was “insulted” by the contract offer. It would make Ewing look more ridiculous and greedy than he already looks.

There is no doubt Patrick Ewing deserves a monster contract. But he should take everything into consideration. In his first two years, he missed 41 games -- exactly one-fourth of the regular-season schedule -- and he certainly did not offer to give back one-fourth of his salary.

Still, he deserves every single million dollars he can get, and there is little doubt he ultimately will get it. And he would have gotten it even without creating a scene. Unfortunately, the controversy has revealed much about Ewing. At a time when he should be scolding team and management for losing big leads and not being creative enough to surround him with better talent, Patrick Ewing is worried about one thing: money.

It’s too bad that, unlike the other great superstars, he is not bigger than that.