The Show of Shows for Magic : NBA: For Laker guard, making his 10th appearance, each and every All-Star game is a special occasion.

Few players enjoy the All-Star experience like Magic Johnson.

He’s like a sponge during the All-Star showcase, soaking in everything and forgetting nothing.

“All of my All-Star Games have special memories for me because it’s always a different city and you tend to have different players every year,” said Johnson, who will make his 10th appearance Sunday. “Look at this year, there are four guys who haven’t started before.”

Johnson will take the court for the West Sunday along with Kevin Johnson of Phoenix at guard, Chris Mullin of Golden State and Utah’s Karl Malone at forward and David Robinson of San Antonio at center.

One of Magic’s favorite memories of his early All-Star Games was milking the veterans for information. Now that he’s one of the oldest All-Stars at 31, Magic likes to bend the ears of the younger players.

“Being named as an All-Star as a rookie and playing against all of your heroes and the legends was just great,” he said. “I was so full of butterflies that I could hardly play. I was so scared and nervous. I can remember that game like it was yesterday, because it was a fantastic day for me as a player.”

Magic had 12 points and the first four of his NBA-record 115 All-Star assists on that day in 1980 at Landover, Md., won by the East 144-135.

Johnson said veteran players like Julius Erving and Tiny Archibald, who played in Magic’s first All-Star Game, probably “were tired of me because I asked so many questions ... what I should do and what I shouldn’t do. I was going crazy. They just told me, play your game, have fun and enjoy yourself.”

Last year at Miami, when Johnson won his first All-Star MVP award despite another East victory, it was he who picked up the veteran role for the young players.

“I told David Robinson last year that everyone’s going to be on top of you to do this and do that,” he said. “But don’t come in and do everything. Do what you’re supposed to do, then get away from it and have fun. Don’t overcommit yourself and don’t let them drain you by having you run all around everywhere. Just take the couple of days, enjoy it and have some fun while you’re doing everything else.”

Johnson and this year’s four newcomers to the West starting lineup face an East team of Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley, plus replacements for injured starters Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas.

Thomas, one of Johnson’s closest friends was elected to start for the East, but won’t play after undergoing wrist surgery last week. Bird returned to the Boston lineup on Wednesday after missing 14 games with a bad back, but the Celtics said is not yet ready to travel and will miss the All-Star Game.

East coach Chris Ford of the Celtics, the fourth rookie coach in the All-Star Game, will decide on replacements for Bird and Thomas in the starting lineup.

“I’ll miss Isiah because we tend to keep up that fast tempo that fans like,” Magic said. “But he’ll still be around Charlotte, so I can see him.”

Johnson, who was elected as a starter in 1989 but didn’t play because of injury, failed to be selected to the team only in 1981, another injury-shortened season for him. He said that many players say they would rather have three days off than play in the All-Star game, but he doesn’t believe them.

“Most of the guys are lying when they say they want to take a few days off,” he said. “They say that, then they’re the first ones to say they were robbed when they aren’t voted in or picked by the coaches.”

Magic said his favorite All-Star Game was at Seattle in 1987, an overtime victory for the West.

“I liked the one in Seattle, when Rolando Blackman hit the two free throws, the game went into overtime and we ended up winning,” he said.

He also fondly remembers the 1983 game on his homecourt at the Forum, but denies that he wanted to play especially well in that game.

“I get so jacked up, it doesn’t matter where we’re playing,” he said. “LA was great, but it was no different from any other one. I still get sky-high for all of them. But I think, because Marvin Gaye sang the National Anthem, that was a special one.”

Johnson said he has had several All-Star games in which he played better than his MVP performance last year, when he had 22 points and four assists.

He cited Denver in 1984, when he had 15 points, a record 22 assists and nine rebounds; Indianapolis in 1985, when his 21 points and 15 assists helped Ralph Sampson win the MVP; and Seattle in 1987, when Johnson continually passed to Tom Chambers for baskets in overtime.

“It seems like I’ve made all the MVPs who have won it,” he said. “Ralph won it then Tom won it. It was like a thing for me to make everybody else the MVP. And that’s all right, because I’m still playing my game. That’s why I was so shocked when I won the MVP last year. I couldn’t believe that I had actually won it, because all the other times I thought I’d played better games than that one.”

West coach Rick Adelman’s reserves include three of his own players -- Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler and Kevin Duckworth. Also on the roster are the Lakers’ James Worthy, Phoenix’s Chambers, Utah’s John Stockton and Golden State’s Tim Hardaway.

Adelman has five points guards on the team -- Magic and Kevin Johnson, Hardaway, Porter and Stockton, although all but Hardaway and Stockton can play other positions.

Ford’s reserves for the East are Bernard King of Washington, Ricky Pierce and Alvin Robertson of Milwaukee, Joe Dumars of Detroit, Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish of Boston and Cleveland’s Brad Daugherty. Hersey Hawkins of Philadelphia was named to replace Bird.

King, averaging more than 30 points, is making his first All-Star appearance since 1985, a month before he suffered a career-threatening knee injury. He will start in Bird’s place.