SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : DOES SNEAKER WAR HAVE ANOTHER DEFECTION?

While negotiations continue quietly on the question of the U.S. men’s basketball team wearing Reebok outfits to the gold-medal ceremony, there is an interesting aside.

Magic Johnson announced last week that he was leaving Converse and hinted that he might sign with another company. One industry source indicated that Johnson’s new shoe company is Nike, which represents Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and four other members of the U.S. basketball team.

Johnson has not commented on whether he has another deal pending, because he has been under contract to Converse. When asked about the medal ceremony, Johnson said: “The team is still discussing the issue. We’ll discuss it as a unit.”

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.