THE NBA / MARK HEISLER : If Magic Doesn’t Play, That’s Scary

Here’s a fact: Magic Johnson will play in the All-Star Game.

But should he?

You’re darned right, he should.

Has everyone forgotten Ryan White, the Indiana schoolboy with AIDS, whose mere presence in school terrified other kids’ parents into open protest?

Medical experts duly assured them that their children were not in jeopardy from sharing a water fountain with him. White became a a martyr . . . and a few years after his death, everyone is worrying what happens if Johnson sweats on them.

Of course, people will worry.

They just shouldn’t let fear run them and the world around them.

Not one responsible medical expert has yet suggested a significant risk in communicating the HIV infection through basketball. They’re not saying there is a “less than 1%” chance, as Cleveland’s Mark Price said last week, but “an infinitesimal chance,” according to an NBA medical consultant.

There is a real issue here, not just whether or not Johnson, who has already played in 10 of these exhibitions, makes it 11.

There are a lot of people carrying HIV who don’t dare to let others know--for fear the others will shrink from them.

Those people will be heartened by the sight of Johnson playing in the company of his fellows.

It will be the most significant, highest-rated All-Star game ever, the one they’ll remember when they forget so-and-so’s great dunk or which young capitalist pumped up his shoes for an endorsement contract.

For Johnson’s buddies, Michael Jordan and the rest, it’s a chance to do their best deed of the year. There is no doubt most will embrace him figuratively, or literally as Dominique Wilkins did 10 days after the Nov. 7 announcement.

The first thing Wilkins said, after being named to the East team but before tearing his Achilles tendon, was that it would be an honor to play in Magic’s last game.

“To me, he is the greatest of us all,” Wilkins said.

By embracing their friend, they tell all the stricken it’s all right. For that, we bless them.

NOW FOR THE REST

OF HIS CAREER

Here’s another fact:

Johnson hopes to show in this game and the Olympics that he can return to the NBA.

That’s great--as long as he has medical clearance.

Not only by league and Olympic doctors but his own.

It’s not enough if doctors advise against playing, for Johnson to answer that he knows himself. Or as he said last week: “They’re not living in my body.”

If people are telling him his wisest choice is to go on with his life, perhaps they don’t know enough about the marathon nature of the NBA lifestyle, where physical activity is only the beginning, compounded as it is by constant, grinding travel and emotional strain.

“I think he misses basketball,” said Byron Scott, Johnson’s best friend on the Lakers, urging him to stay retired.

“Earvin still had three, four good years left in him. Any time any player in any league retires prematurely, it messes with his mind. I think he’s kinda torn because he knows he can still play in this league and still dominate.”

No one needs Johnson to return at any peril to himself, not the organization, the players or the fans. Hopefully, not Magic, himself.

He always knew he was going to hang ‘em up one day.

If his doctors say go, he should stay gone.

FALL GUYS

Since the top guys rarely stand up to acknowledge their contributions to disaster, someone else must get the credit or lack thereof.

Here are some guys under the gun:

--Philadelphia: Jimmy Lynam.

Having tiptoed to the precipice of trading Charles Barkley and pulled back, volatile 76er owner Harold Katz needs someone else to blame for this season’s sloth. Hint: it won’t be the official who traded Brad Daugherty for Roy Hinson (Katz).

The 76ers had a five-game winning streak and a 16-point lead over Wilkins-less Atlanta, which then rallied to beat them. Then they lost at home, by 25 points, to the Indianapolis Pacers, a 3-18 road team.

“I’m tired of it,” Katz said. “ . . . The next thing is for (Lynam) to address the situation and for (the players) to respond. And if they don’t, I have to think about what I have to do.”

--Dallas: James Donaldson.

Really.

This team should have been dismantled at least a year ago and maybe two but attendance was still robust and management couldn’t slay a cash cow.

Now, the outward symbol of all that has gone wrong is Donaldson, the game but gawky 7-foot 2-inch center. Aggrieved at being benched, he got into a fight at practice with Rolando Blackman and hit peacemaker Derek Harper in the eye. Harper called him “a 7-foot punk.” Practice fights aren’t uncommon but Donaldson was suspended for a game, costing him $10,770.

--Seattle: K.C. Jones (Ret.)

SuperSonic management keeps falling in love with its players, imagining them accepting their world championship rings. They were .500, they are .500, they will be .500 in the future unless they import or develop some maturity.

--Indiana: They’re holding weekly auditions.

So far Coach Bob Hill has closed practice, anointed Chuck Person team leader and tried benching point guard Micheal Williams, forward Dale Davis and center Rik Smits.

Since having the mantle of leadership placed on his shoulders, Person has elbowed Chicago’s John Paxson in the face, pushed Cleveland’s Price and shoved the Indianapolis News’ Steve Brunner. He was obliged to apologize for the last, newspaper space still being necessary.

At last report, Person was vowing to “buy a chicken, chop off its head and make a sacrifice” while management shopped him around the league.

FACES AND FIGURES

Windy City tale of woe: Not only didn’t the Bulls get the three All-Star selections they were insisting upon but archrival Detroit did. “How do they get three guys on the team with the season they’re having?” asked Scottie Pippen. It got worse. Needing a substitute for Dominique Wilkins, the league named Kevin Willis, rather than Chicago’s Horace Grant. The league is likely to need a replacement for Larry Bird, too, but Grant now vows he isn’t going, even if asked. This will be a considerable test of his principles, since there is a $75,000 bonus for being chosen. . . . In Boston, they’re wondering if Bird will be ready after the All-Star break. “I know the league will probably get mad at me for saying this but I have almost no interest in seeing Larry Bird wear an All-Star uniform,” said Celtic grand poohbah Dave Gavitt. “I do have an interest in seeing Larry wear a uniform with some green in it and he won’t do that until he’s good and ready.”

After Piston players griped about their predictable offense, Coach Chuck Daly installed the triple post, newly popularized by Chicago assistant Tex Winter. “Tex Winter wrote a book about it in the ‘40s,” Daly said. “He finally got the Bulls to put it in two years ago and that’s when they took off. We’d like to do the same thing.” Hint for Chuckles: Get Michael Jordan and Pippen to run it and you’re golden. . . . Speaking of the Hatfields and McCoys, Isiah Thomas walked up to Jordan before their game last week and suggested they make up. They agreed to see each other socially to learn what the other is all about. Since both are extremely nice men when not strung out pursuing fame and fortune, they can be expected to get along fine. Congratulations (and good luck).

Tell us when we get it right: Knick Coach Pat Riley, who started the season defending his players against slights in the New York press, doesn’t want anyone getting too optimistic, either. “I don’t think this team should be measured against the Chicagos or Portlands--teams that have been there and have developed a tradition,” Riley said. “We’re right there with a lot of other teams, trying to get to that level. Sometimes I think it’s unfair to let this team be criticized for not being one of them. We are not one of them. There are only four or five of them. We are one of those.” . . . Not yet born to run: Seattle’s George Karl, the “quick-fix” guy, after a 1-3 start: “We’re just not in condition to play the kind of running game I want to play. The players want to run. They just can’t.” Karl plans some two-a-day practices during the All-Star break.

Max’s week: Houston’s Vern Maxwell was fined $7,500 and suspended for a game, costing him another $3,963, after fouling out, bumping referee Jack Nies and throwing his finger splint at him. . . . Rocket Coach Don Chaney asked players for a one-word description of their season, got replies like unpredictable , and inconsistent and disappointing , and this one from Maxwell: “Up and down.” . . . San Antonio’s Antoine Carr, after the Bulls had challenged David Robinson, who blocked seven of their shots in one half: “What’s the matter with those guys? Don’t they have cable up there?”