Esquinas to Meet With NBA Consultant Monday

The NBA will meet Monday in New York with Richard Esquinas to discuss his allegations that Michael Jordan was a compulsive gambler who lost $1.25 million to him in golf wagers in 1991.

The meeting will not be at the league’s office, nor will any NBA officials be present, NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said Thursday.

The league has retained Frederick Lacey, a former federal judge and U.S. attorney, as a consultant. McIntyre said Lacey and “whoever he deems” will represent the NBA at the meeting, at a site to be determined.

Esquinas, of San Diego, wrote about his high-stakes matches with Jordan in a book called “Michael and Me. Our Gambling Addiction . . . My Cry for Help!”

*

The New Jersey Nets, left with a hole in their backcourt when Drazen Petrovic died last month, signed unrestricted free agent Kevin Edwards from the Miami Heat. General Manager Willis Reed said the contract is for more than three years.

Basketball

George Lynch, the Lakers’ first-round draft pick, won’t play on their summer league team because he hasn’t agreed to a contract, a club spokesman said. Doug Christie, who is a restricted free agent and hasn’t come to terms, also won’t play. Second-round draft pick Nick Van Exel and Duane Cooper, a rookie last season, will be on the team, which opens play Sunday at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

*

Michelle Palmisano, who started 26 of 27 games as a freshman for the UCLA women’s basketball team last season, has transferred to Vanderbilt.

The NCAA men’s basketball committee recommended the Final Four be held in San Antonio in 1998; St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1999; Indianapolis in 2000; Minneapolis in 2001 and Atlanta in 2002.

Baseball

Larry Napp, an American League umpire for 25 years who worked in four All-Star games and four World Series, died of a heart attack Wednesday in Plantation, Fla. He was 77.

*

Charlie Bishop Jr., a pitcher with the the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics in the 1950s, died of cancer at his home in Lawrenceville, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. He was 69.

Roller Hockey

Devin Edgerton, Ken Murchinson and Brad McCaughey scored in the fourth quarter to give the Anaheim Bullfrogs a 6-4 victory over the Blades in a Roller Hockey International game at the Forum. The Bullfrogs are 3-0, the Blades 3-1.

Miscellany

Donald Williams of North Carolina scored 18 points to lead the United States to a 122-55 victory over Gabon in the opening round of men’s basketball competition at the World University Games in Buffalo, N.Y. . . . Minority hiring of coaches and front-office personnel in professional sports has improved only slightly in the last year, with the NBA showing the most improvement and baseball the least, according to a report released by the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in Boston. The report, drawn from team rosters of personnel on and off the field, gave the NBA an overall A and praise for filling top management positions with minorities. The NFL scored a B for general improvements in racial equality. But despite a B-plus for advances in minority coaching staffs, baseball drew an overall C and another year of criticism for little progress.

Top-ranked featherweight contender Kevin Kelley (35-0) stopped Adolpho Castillo (16-11) at 2:02 of the second round in New York. . . . The Rams will conduct a clinic for children 8-14 on Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton. Admission is free.