Comebacks Leave Magic On Hold At Hall Of Fame

Around the NBA

Magic Johnson will have to wait until 2002 to be considered for the Basketball Hall of Fame.

And if he stages another comeback, he will have to wait longer.

Hall of Fame trustees considered circumstances under which they would waive the five-year waiting period for players earlier this year after getting a request from Johnson’s agent, hall spokesman Robin Deutsch said Thursday at Springfield, Mass.

However, he said, the trustees’ 14-member executive committee decided against allowing exemptions before getting into the specifics of Johnson’s case.

Talk of waiving the five-year rule for Johnson first surfaced in 1991 when he retired from professional basketball after announcing he was infected with the HIV virus that can cause AIDS.

He returned to play on the U.S. team that won the Gold Medal at the 1992 Olympics. Then he tried a brief comeback with Los Angeles Lakers, but quit again during the 1992-1993 exhibition season after several players expressed concerns for health reasons about playing with him.

In January 1996, he returned to the Lakers and played the remaining half of the 1995-1996 season, retiring again, at age 37, after the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Kings sack St. Jean

Garry St. Jean was fired as coach of the Sacramento Kings, who are mired in a seven-game losing streak and fading from the NBA playoff picture.

The Kings picked assistant Eddie Jordan to replace St. Jean, who was in his fifth season. Hall of Famer and former Princeton coach Pete Carril will remain an assistant.

St. Jean, 46, was hired in May 1992. He didn’t have a winning season. His best years were 1994-95 and 1995-96, when the Kings were 39-43 in the regular season.

St. Jean’s career record with the Kings was 159-236.

On the court

Portland won its league-best 11th straight game, tying the second-longest winning streak in franchise history with a 97-78 victory at Milwaukee… . Hakeem Olajuwon scored 26 points and led a fourth-quarter charge that gave Houston a 96-90 victory and snapped Washington’s five-game road winning streak… . Eddie Jones scored 25 points and backcourt partner Nick Van Exel had 22, leading the Lakers to an 89-76 victory that was their first at Cleveland since Dec. 13, 1988.