Magic Eyes Olympic Redux : Basketball: Former Laker great touts ‘excellent shape’ in quest for second go-around as a 1996 Olympian.

Magic Johnson, whose brilliant NBA career was cut short in 1991 because of the AIDS virus, wants to play again in the Olympics.

“It’s his desire to participate in the Olympics in 1996,” Johnson’s agent, Lon Rosen, said Tuesday. “He’s been playing for the last year and a half on his tour. The team is 45-0.”

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, NBA players represented the United States for the first time. Led by Johnson and Michael Jordan, the Americans won the gold medal by routing every opponent.

The United States will again use NBA players at the Atlanta Olympics. A 10-member committee from USA Basketball is to select the team in September and a coach is to be appointed this summer. Lenny Wilkens, the NBA’s winningest coach, is considered the likely choice.

Johnson was in Florida for a speaking engagement and unavailable for comment Tuesday, Rosen said.

Johnson, who turns 36 in August, is averaging in double figures in points, rebounds and assists for his touring team. The squad has faced top teams from Australia, Germany, Puerto Rico, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and Argentina.

“He averages 40 minutes a game and is in excellent shape,” Rosen said from his Century City office. “He feels as good as ever.”

At 6-foot-9, Johnson revolutionized the point guard position in 12 seasons with the Lakers.

“He feels he’s playing just as well as he was playing when he retired from professional basketball,” Rosen said. “He no longer wears his knee braces, his legs are fresh. He’s in the same great basketball shape he was in before the 1992 Games, at the top of his game.”

Johnson retired shortly before the 1991-92 season after learning he was HIV positive. He led the Lakers to five NBA championships and won the league’s most valuable player award three times.

He made a comeback with the Lakers the following season, but changed his mind after adverse reaction by some players and others involved with the NBA.

Johnson was the No. 1 selection in the 1979 NBA draft after leading Michigan State to the NCAA championship as a sophomore.