Starks outta Chicago, outta playoffs

CHICAGO (AP) -- John Starks wanted to leave the Chicago Bulls so badly he offered to give up his salary for a chance to join a team headed to the playoffs. <br><br>It didn't quite work out that way.

Tuesday, March 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) -- John Starks wanted to leave the Chicago Bulls so badly he offered to give up his salary for a chance to join a team headed to the playoffs.

It didn't quite work out that way.

After arbitrator Roger Kaplan ruled Tuesday on his unique request, Starks got out of Chicago and he'll get to keep his paycheck, but he's not going to the playoffs.

Kaplan said Starks could forfeit the remainder of his salary and leave under a mutual agreement with the Bulls. But he denied a request for Starks' release to be retroactive to the March 1 playoff roster deadline.

Shortly after the ruling, the Bulls waived Starks anyhow and general manager Jerry Krause said they would pay the veteran guard the remainder of his contract, about $700,000.

A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Starks decided if he wasn't going to the playoffs, he wanted his money. The Bulls just wanted to end the relationship.

"I know John still has some basketball left in him," Krause said. "Our young players have to be on the court. They are the future of this franchise, and John certainly is not."

Starks wasn't immediately reachable for comment. His agent, Leigh Steinberg, did not return a phone call.

Kaplan's ruling, based on a provision in the new collective bargaining agreement that deals with mutual termination of player contracts, could have an effect next season.

Players and teams will be able to mutually agree to amend contracts by reducing or eliminating guaranteed payments after Jan.10, players' union spokesman Dan Wasserman said.

"The league will no longer be able to use the Jan. 10 date to force teams to make guaranteed payments in order to limit player movement," Wasserman said. Jan. 10 is the date on which contracts are guaranteed for the season.

"The key issue for us was making sure that guys were not able to go to playoffs teams after March 1. That's the key thing," NBA lawyer Rick Buchanan said. "The critical issue was to preserve the competitive balance of the league by enforcing our March 1 playoff deadline," he added. "This is a really small thing. The case has gotten blown up to bigger proportions because John Starks is a known player."

Union executive director Billy Hunter said Kaplan's ruling upholds what he's said in the past. "A player and a team can mutually agree to walk away from an existing contract at any time," he said.

Starks, 34, was on the injured list with what the team says was tendinitis in his left knee and had left earlier this month for his Tulsa, Okla., home.

He's missed 13 straight games with the Bulls after playing in just four, averaging 7.5 points. Starks came to Chicago from the Golden State Warriors last month as part of a three-team trade that sent Toni Kukoc to Philadelphia and also garnered the Bulls a first-round draft pick.

Starks has been disliked in Chicago since his days with New York, when the Knicks and Bulls staged the NBA's most heated rivalry. He was booed at the United Center this season, even as he wore the home team's uniform.