Foot Injury Sidelines Knicks’ Camby

Marcus Camby will begin the season on the injured list, leaving Felton Spencer as the starting center for the New York Knicks tonight against the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden.

Camby played only six minutes of one game during the preseason because of an injury to his left foot. When he was unable to practice Monday, the Knicks decided to put him on the injured list, Coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

Camby will miss at least five games, a big loss for a team that already was undersized. New York’s centers will be Spencer and Travis Knight, while the power forwards--none taller than 6 feet 8--are Kurt Thomas, Clarence Weatherspoon and Othella Harrington.

“I’m a little frustrated because I’ve never missed an opening night,” Camby said.

Camby, who averaged 12.0 points and 11.5 rebounds last season, has never played in more than 63 games in a season during his five-year career.

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A.C. Green’s record streak of 1,192 consecutive games was in jeopardy of ending as he remained unsigned on the eve of the regular-season start.

“He would like to keep the streak intact, but he wouldn’t sign anywhere just to keep it intact,” Green’s agent, Mark Fleisher, said.

Fleisher said the Miami Heat, Green’s team last season, was wavering on whether to offer a contract. He said his calls to the New York Knicks were not returned and talks with the New Jersey Nets broke down.

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Indiana waived 35-year-old forward Derrick McKey, who was the second-oldest player on the team behind Reggie Miller.

The 14-year veteran had career-low averages of 2.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 15 minutes in 66 games last season, playing behind Austin Croshere and Al Harrington.

McKey is the second veteran recently released by the Pacers, joining 40-year-old Sam Perkins, who was waived last month.

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Cleveland put center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, forward Tyrone Hill and guard Jeff Trepagnier on the injured list to set their roster.

The 7-3 Ilgauskas, 26, has played in only 29 games the last three seasons because of five surgeries on his feet, including one in February to insert three screws in his left foot.

Trepagnier, a second-round draft pick from USC, has a sprained left ankle.

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Miami put Chris Gatling on the injured list, three days after trading for the forward.

Gatling, acquired by Miami in a three-team deal involving Cleveland and Toronto, needs to catch up on conditioning. A free agent after last season, Gatling did not practice with Cleveland and did not go to training camp.

The Heat also put forward Malik Allen and center Ernest Brown on the injured list and released forward Sean Lampley.

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Houston forward Maurice Taylor, a projected starter who had season-ending surgery Sept. 5 to repair a torn right Achilles’ tendon, was among players deactivated by the Rockets.

Also moving to the injured list were center Jason Collier, who missed five exhibition games with a leg injury, and forward Dan Langhi, who missed two games with a sprained right ankle.

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Chicago traded center Jake Voskuhl to Phoenix in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2003. For salary cap reasons, the Suns traded center Soumalia Samake, who was then waived by Chicago.

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Toronto put guard Dell Curry, forward Mamadou N’diaye and center Michael Stewart on the injured list and waived Don MacLean. MacLean was acquired in a three-team trade last week with Cleveland and Miami....Memphis put center Bryant Reeves and forward Antonis Fotsis on the injured list. Reeves had problems with his back through training camp....Milwaukee put forward Darvin Ham on the injured list, and waived guard Jason Hart and center Aleksandar Radojevic....New Jersey rookie forward Brian Scalabrine had surgery for a broken right foot suffered Friday against Detroit....Atlanta put forward Alan Henderson on the injured list....Golden State put forward Cedric Henderson and guard Dean Oliver on the injured list....Boston put Chris Herren on waivers and put Randy Brown and Roshown McLeod on the injured list....Detroit signed guard Damon Jones and put Brian Cardinal and Ratko Varda on the injured list....Dallas waived guard Khalid El-Amin and the Mavericks were expected to save a roster spot for Chinese center Wang Zhizhi.