Heat Finally Retains Loughery

Miami Heat Coach Kevin Loughery will not only keep his job but get a raise after weeks of speculation the team would dump him.

Loughery agreed to a multi-year contract extension Sunday, the club announced Thursday in Miami. Terms were not disclosed, but it was reportedly for two years with an option for a third, worth more $500,000 per season. Heat officials would not release his current salary.

“Kevin did get a raise,” was all Managing Partner Lewis Schaffel would say.

On-and-off meetings with management and the appearance of Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski in a Palm Beach hotel increased rumors that Loughery was finished.

Schaffel denied any other coach was considered.

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Phoenix Sun point guard Kevin Johnson signed a one-year contract extension and says he will play three more seasons before retiring, saying his plans are firm, unlike the shifting announcements by teammate Charles Barkley.

Team owner Jerry Colangelo told The Phoenix Gazette that the deal makes Johnson the highest paid point guard in the NBA but not the highest paid Sun.

That means Johnson’s salary is more than the $3.34 million Tim Hardaway is paid by Golden State but less than the $3.5 million paid to teammates Dan Majerle and Barkley. The seven-year contract Johnson signed in 1989 was for $15 million.

Johnson, 28, said the contract’s no-trade clause was most important to him.

The Seattle SuperSonics will hire a new general manager after current President and General Manager Bob Whitsett has his contract situation resolved, said Bob Ackerley, the son of team owner, in Seattle.

Whitsitt asked out of the final three years of a five-year contract last week.

Boxing

Roy Jones Jr., the International Boxing Federation middleweight champion, was arrested in Hamilton, Bermuda, when a loaded handgun was found in his luggage during a routine customs check at the airport.

Customs officials discovered a .22-caliber gun and 14 rounds of ammunition. He was released on $1,000 bail pending a court appearance. Police said Jones, 25, told officers someone else had packed his bags and he did not know the gun was inside.