Shawn Kemp’s 22-day absence from the Seattle SuperSonics’ training camp was about money and which NBA players are getting it.

“When you play for seven years and you’ve proved yourself to be an All-Star, then you see guys who haven’t proved themselves sign for millions of dollars, you have a right to be upset,” Kemp said Tuesday.

He spoke after taking part in a 2-hour practice, his first workout with the Sonics this fall. Kemp, 26, missed the Sonics’ first five exhibition games.

Coach George Karl said he expected the four-time All-Star power forward to play about 25 minutes when the Sonics play Portland in Spokane on Thursday at the Arena.

“What I basically did was to take a couple of weeks to be by myself and clear my head,” Kemp said. “I wanted to get my mind right and get ready to play some basketball. The guys on this team don’t deserve to have Shawn Kemp walk around the locker room with an attitude.”

Kemp will be only the sixth-highest paid member of the Sonics this season. But he said he wasn’t specifically unhappy with Jim McIlvaine, Seattle’s starting center. McIlvaine, a backup center in Washington last season, signed a $33 million free-agent contract with the Sonics.

And Kemp’s All-Star teammate, Gary Payton, last season’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year, signed an $87.5 million deal during the off-season.

“It has nothing to do with Jim McIlvaine or any of my teammates,” Kemp said. “It’s not anything personal.”

Instead, Kemp said, his absence from camp was his way of making a statement of protest about the direction of salaries in the NBA, precisely who is getting the money.

“After all those signings that took place this summer, I’m not going to sit here and tell you I wasn’t ticked off,” he said. “But I was ticked off with the NBA as a whole.”

After making $4.8 million last season, including a $2.1 million signing bonus, Kemp is scheduled to make $3 million in the second year of a seven-year extension he signed in 1993.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Ticket info Although the choice seats are gone, tickets remain for Thursday night’s SonicsBlazers exhibition at the Arena. The $50 seats are sold out. A few single seats at $30 were available Tuesday, with plenty of single seats at $23.50. Tickets also remain at $19.50 at G&B outlets, including the Arena at 720 W. Mallon and the Opera House.