$14-Million Extension Makes Karl Best Paid

George Karl became the highest-paid coach in professional sports and a part-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Terms weren’t revealed, but a source with knowledge of the deal said the two-year extension is worth $14 million and also includes a small piece--believed to be 1% to 2%--of the franchise. Incentives could add another $1 million.

Karl, who turns 50 in May, is committed to the Bucks through the 2003-04 season.

“George is one of the best coaches in the game and this extension ensures that we will continue to have his leadership on our sideline for the next several seasons,” General Manager Ernie Grunfeld said Wednesday in Milwaukee.

Karl is in the third year of his original four-year, $20-million contract.

The Bucks have improved under Karl, going 114-88, reaching the NBA playoffs in his first two seasons and now approaching their first division title in 15 years.

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New Jersey Net star Stephon Marbury will sit out the rest of the season because of a ruptured tendon in his left pinkie.

Marbury, who averaged 23.9 points and 7.6 assists, will undergo surgery today and is expected to be ready for next season.

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Former Laker great James Worthy joined Final Four coaches Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Lute Olson of Arizona on the short list for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Worthy, Krzyzewski and Olson were among 17 finalists--seven players, seven coaches and three contributors--announced. The inductees will be voted into the hall in May and enshrined Oct. 5.

Other coaches among the finalists are Larry Brown, Temple’s John Chaney and Fresno State’s Jerry Tarkanian.

Other players chosen were 12-time NBA all-star Moses Malone, scoring star Adrian Dantley and defensive ace Bobby Jones.

Cathy Rush, who won three national championships as coach at Immaculata College in the 1970s, and North Carolina State Coach Kay Yow, who ranks fifth with 611 career victories, also were nominated.

Also proposed as players were Earl Lloyd, who in 1950 became the first black to play in an NBA game, and international stars Dino Meneghin of Italy and the late Drazen Petrovic of Croatia.

Nominated as contributors were Laker assistant Tex Winter; Grady Lewis, who helped develop the low-cut canvas basketball shoe; and the late Junius Kellogg, a wheelchair basketball pioneer.

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Forward-center Matt Geiger, relentlessly booed by Philadelphia fans while averaging only five points and three rebounds after two knee surgeries, says he might ask the 76ers for a trade.