Bucks Replace Injured Ellis by Signing Dantley : NBA: Milwaukee gets 24.5-point career scorer, but he hadn’t played at all this season.

The Milwaukee Bucks signed veteran forward Adrian Dantley for the rest of the season Tuesday and placed Dale Ellis on the injured list with a herniated disk.

The 6-foot 5-inch Dantley, the 10th-leading scorer in NBA history with a 24.5 career average, played the fourth quarter and scored two points Tuesday night as the Bucks won, 121-104 at Philadelphia.

Dantley, who lives in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., caught a plane to Milwaukee Tuesday morning where he had a physical exam and then headed back to the airport for a flight to Philadelphia.

“My body feels like its in the NBA already,” said Dantley, 35.

Dantley, who has not played in the NBA this season after no team signed him, said he had been working out consistently and playing games for conditioning.

“Once I get used to the bumping again, I’ll be OK,” he said. “The bumping, that’s the part you really miss. I’ve never been away this long, so it’ll be interesting.”

Ellis, who was acquired in a Feb. 16 trade with Seattle for Rickey Pierce, will be out a minimum of 10 days with a herniated disk. The injury, which he suffered March 13 against the Chicago Bulls, has caused leg pain and numbness and weakness in his leg muscles.

David Haskell, the team’s orthopedic consultant, said Ellis was under bed rest on anti-inflammatory drugs.

“We’re certainly not optimistic about him playing again this season,” Haskell said.

Ellis averaged 19.3 points in 21 games for the Bucks.

“Our veteran players are really going to have to step up their production considerably in order to compensate for the loss of Dale Ellis,” Buck Coach Del Harris said.

Dantley, a 14-year veteran, was a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Braves in 1976 and was the rookie of the year in 1977. He led the league in scoring while with Utah in 1981 and 1984.

“We feel extremely fortunate that on such short notice we are in a position to acquire such a fierce competitor as Adrian Dantley,” Harris said. “I’ve talked with several of our key players and they all have a great deal of respect for his ability and determination.”