Winners and Losers in Off-Season Action

Shaq went West, Michael stayed put, Juwan jumped around and the agents laughed all the way to the bank.

It was an off-season of labor hiccups, bidding wars, trades, signings and--most of all--movement all around the NBA.

Here is a list of the league’s top 10 winners and losers in the summer of 1996:

WINNERS

* 1. Shaquille O’Neal. Signed a $120 million deal, the richest contract in pro sports history, and got to go to the city of his choosing. He’ll always be criticized, but he went where he wanted and made a lot of money.

* 2. Alonzo Mourning. Was a bust in the 3-0 playoff loss to the Chicago Bulls, but it didn’t hurt him one bit once he entered the open market. Miami had to pay $112 million to keep him around for seven more years.

* 3. David Falk. NBA superagent made general managers camp out in a hotel when free-agent bidding opened, and his high-profile clients--Michael Jordan, Mourning, Juwan Howard, et al.--got enormous contracts. Falk’s clients signed deals worth more than $200 million, and he gets four% of that.

* 4. Washington Bullets. Thought they had lost Howard, so they used his cap money to get Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant. Then they got Howard back after the league voided his deal--and the league let them keep the players they signed with Howard’s cap money.

* 5. Dennis Rodman. The player who nobody would touch two years ago is now overexposed. Two new books, a movie, lingerie commercials and his own show on MTV are just a few of his off-court projects. Oh, and he signed a one-year, $9 million contract to return to the Bulls, too.

* 6. Jordan. Signed a one-year contract for $30 million, setting himself up for a one-year, $36 million deal after that, a $43 million, one-year deal after that, and so on until he’s had enough.

* 7. Jim McIlvaine. Averaged 2.1 points and 2.5 rebounds in two seasons as a Bullets backup, then got a mind-boggling seven-year, $33 million deal with Seattle, a contract that 7-foot-1 stiffs will be negotiating off of for years.

* 8. Jeffrey Kessler. Attorney in an agent-led revolt against the proposed collective bargaining agreement. His last-minute maneuverings for the NBA players’ association drew an extra $50 million out of David Stern’s vault.

* 9. Jerry Reinsdorf. Bulls GM signed Jordan, Rodman and coach Phil Jackson--all for about $40 million. Some other teams spent more than that on one mediocre player. Very shrewd maneuver by a very successful operator.

* 10. Charlotte Hornets. At this time last year, they decided they didn’t want to pay Mourning $100 million. After last season, they decided they didn’t want to pay Larry Johnson $84 million. Instead of getting nothing back, they got Glen Rice, Anthony Mason and Matt Geiger.

LOSERS

* 1. Miami Heat. The NBA said team broke salary-cap rules by signing Howard after it had agreed to terms with Mourning. Coach-GM Pat Riley said the league was out to get him, but he gave in to its ruling and gave back a dominating player.

* 2. Orlando Magic. Offered O’Neal as much money as the Lakers did, maybe even a little more. But on the night the Dream Team left Orlando and flew to Atlanta for the Olympics, Shaq sat down and finalized things with the Lakers. Obviously, he wanted to leave all along.

* 3. Stern. The teflon commissioner actually lost. When he knew he could get a good deal on a new collective bargaining agreement two summers ago, he got too greedy. The agents rebelled, fought the deal and got a much better one. That’s why contracts are in the tens of millions these days.

* 4. Dream Team. Ignored by NBC, it was little seen by the American public and had nothing to gain by winning a gold medal. Criticized first for being too good and then for winning by too little, the players didn’t seem to enjoy the experience as much as they thought they would.

* 5. Oliver Miller. Opted out of a guaranteed $5.3 million contract with Toronto, turned down a $19 million offer from the Raptors, refused to let the Utah Jazz weigh him and ended up getting the league minimum to sign with Dallas.

* 6. John Calipari. Forget the fact that the former University of Massachusetts coach got a $15 million contract to coach the New Jersey Nets. In doing so, he chose to associate himself with one of the more faceless and depressing franchises in pro sports. His career is all downhill from here.

* 7. Reggie Miller. Although he ended up getting the money he wanted to re-sign with the Indiana Pacers, he had to suffer the humiliation of being virtually ignored on the free agent market despite being one of the top three shooting guards in the league.

* 8. Shawn Kemp. During the NBA Finals, he proved to be one of the best no-quit, clutch players in the league. But then he sullied his already questionable reputation by holding out in training camp and claiming he’s underpaid.

* 9. Walt Williams, Rex Chapman. After Miami renounced its rights to both players, offers for them simply didn’t come in. And when everybody’s salary cap room was gone, they had little choice but to sign for the league minimum of $247,500.

* 10. David Benoit. Turned down $4 million over three years from Utah Jazz to take a $500,000 job with the Nets, hoping that a good season could be parlayed in to a huge contract next summer. Ruptured his Achilles tendon three days into training camp.