Stockton Will Stay in Utah for ‘Only’ $5 Million a Year

John Stockton has agreed to a three-year, $15-million contract with the Utah Jazz.

The value of the contract is thought to be millions below what the 34-year-old Stockton, the league’s all-time leader in assists and steals and an eight-time all-star, could have made on the open market.

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Jackie Joyner-Kersee has been a world-class long jumper. But she is under no illusions about the difficulty of the leap she is about to attempt--from the heptathlon to hoops.

“I can run up and down the court forever, but it’s different when you’ve got a ball in your hand,” she said during a news conference in St. Louis, where she confirmed that she will play in the new women’s American Basketball League.

Joyner-Kersee, who won Olympic gold medals in 1988 and 1992, will play for the Richmond Rage.

Her husband and track coach, Bob Kersee, was confident his wife could make the transition.

“She’s been the queen of track and field, and now she can return to her true court--basketball,” he said.

Joyner-Kersee said she would play 28 to 35 games of the Rage’s 40-game regular-season schedule. That would allow her to compete in the long jump and to continue making public appearances.

“I’m just finishing where I started,” said Joyner-Kersee, 34. “Many people don’t realize that I started out playing basketball.”

Joyner-Kersee, 5-feet-10, was a four-year starter at forward for UCLA before she became an Olympic star. She averaged 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds, and was a first-team all-Western College Athletic Conference choice in 1985.

Auto Racing

NASCAR drivers Jimmy Spencer, Michael Waltrip and Kyle Petty were fined a total of $17,000 after nearly coming to blows Sunday in the MBNA 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del.

Spencer was fined $10,000 for trying to get at Wally Dallenbach after they were involved in a multi-car accident. Petty was fined $5,000 and Waltrip $2,000 for threatening each other moments after tangling on the final lap of the race, which was won by Jeff Gordon.

Two of three drivers injured in separate crashes in Sunday’s Las Vegas 500K Indy car race were released from University Medical Center.

Tony Stewart, who broke his left shoulder blade, and Mark Dismore, who broke his pelvis, were sent home. Brad Murphy, who broke his right hip, remained hospitalized.

Jurisprudence

Alvin Harrison, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 1,600-meter relay, was released on bail after he was arrested on charges of assaulting a towing service security guard in Salinas with a car on Monday night. One of the two others charged in the case is Harrison’s twin brother, Calvin.

The judge presiding over the tax evasion trial of tennis player Steffi Graf’s father and a tax advisor in Mannheim, Germany, does not anticipate handing out an “exorbitant” sentence if the two are found guilty.

The prosecutor accused chief judge Joachim Plass of making a deal with the defense when he tried to free Peter Graf and former family tax advisor Joachim Eckardt from jail last Friday. The pair remain in custody pending an appeal.

The judge denied any wrongdoing and indicated he believes the two defendants, who have been in custody for a year, have already served enough jail time.

Golf

Ian Woosnam of Wales and American Steve Stricker filled out the 12-player field for the Million Dollar Challenge, scheduled for November in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Names in the News

Top-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria pulled out of the $165,000 WTA Tour’s Warsaw Cup tennis tournament because she hurt her back during a training session. . . . Former Tulane football coach Andy Pilney, an All-American halfback at Notre Dame, died in Kenner, La., at 83.