In the five years - including this one - Karl Malone has made the Western Conference All-Star team, he has never been able to wear his usual No. 32. The reason is because it is the same number Magic Johnson wears.
Once again, Malone has picked another number with symbolic meaning. This year he'll wear No. 11, because it is the same number he will have for the U.S. Olympic team.Anxious not to get caught without a plan, Malone even had an optional choice, if No. 11 wasn't available. His next choice was No. 9 - the number Jazz owner Larry Miller wore when he was a top-level softball pitcher.
In 1988, Malone wore No. 7 in honor of former Jazzman Pete Maravich. The following year he took No. 26 in honor of Jazz President Frank Layden, who wore that number in college. In 1990, the year he was injured, Malone picked No. 4 - Coach Jerry Sloan's number when he played for the Chicago Bulls.
And last year Malone wore No. 13, symbolizing his being picked No. 13 in the 1985 Draft.
This event is big. Really big. The NBA All-Star Game will be distributed to some 90 countries in 20 languages.
Among the countries receiving the telecast are Armenia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Tadzhikistan, Korea, Thailand, Ecuador, French Guyana, St. Lucia, Guinea Bissau, South Tome and Zimbabwe.
And, considering the name of the NBA's top player, you have to know one other country that will see the game: Jordan, naturally.
Speaking of foreign broadcasts, Sir Charles Barkley was holding court this week for American and foreign journalists alike.
Friday during the interview session he told a reporter from Spain, "Say hello to everybody in Barcelona. I can't wait to get there. I just hope that's real gold medals you're using."
And to a French reporter, he said, "I hope you French people don't say anything too bad about us, 'cause we're going to take it out on you, too."
Asked about some good European players, Barkley stifled a giggle and said, "Those players are good. But they ain't no better than who I play against."
As for the odds on the U.S. losing in the Olympics, Barkley scoffed, "I don't worry about that. That won't happen."
Coaches Phil Jackson of the East and Don Nelson of the West are each making their first appearance in an NBA All-Star Weekend.
That is fairly strange, considering they have 50 years of NBA experience between them.
Nelson has been in the NBA 30 years as a player, coach and executive and Jackson 20 years as a player, assistant coach, broadcaster and head coach.
Jackson, a one-time coach of the Albany Patroons of the CBA, led the Bulls to a franchise-best 61-21 record and their first NBA title last year.
Nelson entered the season with the 10th-most wins in NBA history (664). He needs 44 wins to pass No. 8 John MacLeod. Nelson has participated in 255 Playoff games as a player and head coach, more than anyone in NBA history.
Only two players have won the All-Star Game MVP Award more than twice - Bob Petit (1956, 1958, 1969, 1962) and Oscar Robertson (1961, 1964, 1969). Among active players, only Isiah Thomas has won it twice (1984, 1986).
It may not be the big bucks these guys get from the salaries, but the All-Stars are still compensated well for showing up this weekend.
Players for the winning team get $5,000 apiece, while losers get $3,000. In the slam-dunk and 3-point competition, the winner gets $20,000, second place $10,000, third place $5,500, fourth place $2,500 and everyone else $1,000.
In All-Star competition, Jazz players have fared well recently. Karl Malone has scored 66 points in three years (another year he was injured and didn't play).
The Mailman delivered 22 points in 1988, along with 10 rebounds and two assists. The next year he got 28 points, nine rebounds, three assists and was named the game's MVP. In 1990 he missed with an injury and last year he had 15 points, four assists and 11 rebounds.
Malone averaged 30 minutes a game in the three appearances.
John Stockton, appearing in his fourth All-Star Game, has averaged 20 minutes a game. He scored 11 points in 1989 with 17 assists, had two points and six assists in 1990 and four points and two assists in 1991.
Of course, the Mailman's most embarrassing moment may have come last year when he interfered with Kevin Johnson's three-point shot at the buzzer, thinking it was short.
"If it happens again, I'll do the same thing," said Malone. "If I think it's short, I'm gonna go up and tip it in. I'm not going to let that change how I play.
"Besides," he smiled, poking his fingers at a reporter, "it wasn't good anyway."
It is generally conceded this is Magic Johnson's last NBA game. But is there more Magic left?
Johnson said Friday he plans to play here and in Barcelona, but won't look past that. Commissioner David Stern said he isn't dealing with hypothetical situations.
"It's a natural response from someone who has been a spectacular player, who is keeping his options open," said Stern. "I'm not prepared to take that away from Magic."
During a first-half timeout during Sunday's All-Star Game, a "Host Trophy" presentation will be made, turning the trophy from Orlando to the Utah Jazz, who will host the game next year at the Delta Center.
As they say in the commercials, They've Come a Long Way, Baby. Commissioner David Stern said when he attended his first NBA All-Star Game, in 1977, a league publicist was asked by a reporter what time the game started.
The reply? "What time can you be there to cover it?"
This week a record 940 media credentials were issued, including 94 to foreign journalists from 17 countries.