Kemp Set to Get $107 Million

Shawn Kemp moved a step closer to getting his renegotiated megacontract, a seven-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers that will be worth about $107 million.

It will make Kemp the fifth NBA player in the $100-million club and will end the salary saga of the former Seattle all-star whose anger with his old contract played a big part in driving him away from the SuperSonics.

According to a source close to the Cavaliers, the sides have agreed on the amount of money Kemp will be paid--approximately $8.3 million in the first season with 20% raises in each of the next six years.

That number would put Kemp with Kevin Garnett ($128 million), Shaquille O’Neal ($120 million), Alonzo Mourning ($112 million) and Juwan Howard ($100.8 million) as players with nine-figure contracts.

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His lips purse and eyes narrow when SuperSonic Coach George Karl talks about his contract trouble.

“Let’s make this clear,” Karl said sourly, “I’m not unhappy with the amount of money I’m making. I’m ecstatic to be earning the kind of money that I am.”

Karl’s $3.5-million-a-year contract expires at the end of this season and the 46-year-old, whose Seattle clubs have averaged 59 wins over the past five seasons, said he doesn’t expect to be back next year.

“Team management is forcing me into becoming a businessman,” Karl said. “There’s been a lot written about how coaches are being supported by their teams. Seattle doesn’t necessarily want to do that. . . .

“I think I’m at a point in my career where I’m not worrying about getting another job. That’s going to come. I just want to go somewhere with tradition, where I can be part of something special.”

Karl said he hopes to avoid the kind of problems this season that can often beset “lame duck” coaches.

“When you’re in the last year of a contract, sometimes players try and pull things, play games with you,” Karl said. “It’s become a part of the NBA game nowadays.”

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Michael Jordan longs for the good old days in Paris. When he could walk unnoticed down the streets, bereft of bodyguards. When he could dine out. When he could be himself.

“I used to come every other year when I first got into the league and I used to sit out at some of the restaurants outdoors and not be bothered,” Jordan said.

All that has changed.

The Chicago Bulls are in town, and Jordan-mania is mounting with the five-time NBA champions preparing for the McDonald’s Championship--a field that includes the Bulls and five European and South American club champions.

“Basketball has grown here due to the Olympics, Dream Team or whatever. It’s become a major sport worldwide now,” he said Wednesday after practice.

“It’s just hard for me to go anywhere now unnoticed--in the sense of getting out in the public and trying to enjoy myself without people bothering me.

“This was like my last area that I could go to where no one really knew who I was to some degree. And now it’s been exposed.”

Even other Bulls are protected with zeal. At a promotional appearance on the Champs Elysees where Jordan was not involved, a security guard reportedly kicked a cameraman.

Jordan, in the city where Princess Diana was killed, is cognizant of risks to well-known celebrities.

“I am aware of it and take cautions and precautions to make sure I can enjoy myself publicly as well as making sure my family is very safe,” he said. “It is just one concern that comes along with the job.”

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The Minnesota Timberwolves released guards Jimmy King and Victor Page.