Richardson to Stick With Italian Team : Basketball: Former NBA All-Star guard says he won’t accept offer from the Philadelphia 76ers.

Micheal Ray Richardson, a former NBA All-Star guard, said today that he has decided to stay with his Italian basketball team rather than accept an offer from the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I’m going to stay,” Richardson said after talks with Paolo Gualandi, president of Knorr Bologna. “Everything is OK now. I’m happy and they’re happy.”

A team statement said Richardson and Gualandi “reached an accord of total satisfaction for both sides.” Richardson said he and the team had promised not to release details of the agreement.

The team statement said only that Richardson will receive a “special prize” at the end of this season. A spokesman declined to specify whether it involves a bonus or other compensation.

Richardson, whose two-year contract in Italy pays him $550,000 a year, had threatened to jump to the 76ers unless Knorr matched the NBA club’s offer. He said Philadelphia offered him a guaranteed two-year deal for $800,000 a season.

“I feel good,” Richardson said today by telephone from Bologna. “I think my future is much, much better here. I have to make the best decision for myself, and I think this is the best.”

He said he planned to inform the 76ers of his decision later in the day.

Richardson, 35, said he hopes to play another three or four years in Italy and no longer hopes to return to the NBA.

Richardson, who played college basketball at the University of Montana, played eight seasons in the NBA with the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. He was banned from the league in 1986 after testing positive for cocaine, his third violation of the NBA’s drug policy.

Richardson’s right to play in the NBA was restored in 1988, but he chose to play in Italy. In his third season with Knorr, Richardson is averaging about 25 points a game.

The 76ers have been searching for a point guard since Johnny Dawkins suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for the season.

“The 76ers have a chance to win a championship,” Richardson had said Thursday. “They have a lot of talent. Maybe I’m their missing piece. Business is business. I would be crazy not to take advantage of this opportunity. In this business, you only have a certain amount of years. You have to make as much money as you can.”

But Knorr officials said there is an accord between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation prohibiting a team in one league from tampering with a player under contract in another.