Comeback Nearly Complete for Bullets’ King

Six years after his previous all-star selection, Bernard King is charging toward his first NBA scoring title since that same 1984-85 season.

At the not-All-the-Stars game to be played here Sunday, minus the injured Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas, he is also the contradiction: King is back in form at 34, after a knee injury that kept him out of 185 consecutive games in three seasons in the mid-1980s. Nothing short of an inspiration, fellow players say.

“And I don’t think it should be limited to basketball,” Phoenix’s Kevin Johnson said. “Anyone who picks up an article on Bernard King knows he’s a role model. He is patient, he persevered, and he has come back as an athlete. I don’t think anything more can be said. This says it all, that he’s here starting in the All-Star game.”

Because of Bird’s back injury, King will be in the Eastern Conference opening lineup at Charlotte Coliseum. The fact that his doctor, Norman Scott, and therapist, Dania Sweitzer, will be on hand, in addition to his wife, parents and in-laws, says it all, too.

In a career that has already included three earlier trips to the All-Star game, four years in the playoffs and the scoring title while averaging 32.9 points, this weekend will always evoke special memories.

“This, to me, is the pinnacle,” said King, who is averaging 29.9 points for the Washington Bullets, third-best in the NBA behind Michael Jordan’s 30.8 and Charles Barkley’s 30.3. “It transcends just the game. I’ve spent six years getting to this point.

“It’s a moment that’s going to remain locked vividly in my heart and in my mind the rest of my life. I hope that sums it all up.”

King likes to brag that he is the first player without an anterior cruciate ligament to play in the All-Star game, but since he hadn’t missed a game because of the knee since returning 3 1/2 seasons ago, the rehabilitation was a success before this. If anything, the durability--his streak of 167 consecutive starts is the second-longest run in the league--takes too much of the focus away from the other story.

He is scoring--on running one-handers, post-up moves, a jumper he concentrated on improving after Jeff Malone was traded from Washington to the Utah Jazz in the off-season.

Victims can be found all over: 52 points against the Denver Nuggets, tying Clipper Charles Smith for the most by an NBA player this season; 49 against the New York Knicks; 47 against the New Jersey Nets; 46 against the Charlotte Hornets and the Cleveland Cavaliers; 45 against the Clippers, and 44 against the Chicago Bulls. Washington is 7-0 in those games.

Making the all-star team soon became inevitable. But when King finally got the official word, courtesy of a phone call from Bullet owner Abe Pollin, he still cried.

It involved a lot of sweat and tears, but he has made it back.

The Barkley Watch:

--On being pressured by league officials to play despite recovering from a foot injury: “The worst that can happen, I can be out the rest of my career and get paid about $16.5 million for the next five years. That’s a worst-case scenario. Best-case scenario, I can play my . . . off this year and get myself a raise next year. So either way, I think I’ll be all right.”

--On the 76ers: “If I was GM, we’d have a totally different team.”

--On Charles Barkley: “Before it’s over, I’m going to get the credit I deserve. I’ll probably be dead and gone, then everyone will say, ‘That (guy) was awesome, wasn’t he?’ One of these days, I’m going to get the credit I deserve as a player.

“When people say my name, they think controversy first, player second. Jimmy (Lynam) is a hell of a coach, and I enjoy playing for him. But there’s only one reason the last six years that we have been competitive. Considering some of the trades we have made, for us to be respectable the last three or four years, there’s one consistent reason. You guys figure out why.”

The hottest trade rumor: The Clippers’ Ken Norman to Milwaukee for Ricky Pierce, who is upset that the Bucks have not made much of a move to give him a contract extension after giving them to Jay Humphries, Alvin Robertson and Frank Brickowski.

Said Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling: “The rumor is false. The Clippers will not trade Danny Manning or Ken Norman,” noting those are the two mentioned most often in trade rumors. “Those are the facts, if anyone cares.”