Those gaudy, high-flying days of "Showtime" are over.
Gone, too, are the performers who turned the Los Angeles Lakers into NBA champions and the Forum into Hollywood South.James Worthy, the last "Showtime" link, is retiring today, ending his 12-year NBA career and completing the final breakup of one of basketball's great acts.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis have all retired. Byron Scott now plays for the Indiana Pacers, A.C. Green is with the Phoenix Suns and Pat Riley coaches the New York Knicks.
"I hate to see him go. James was a big part of all the Lakers championship teams," said Sam Perkins of the Seattle SuperSonics. "He deserves a lot of accolades. I spoke to James about it, and he told me he was happy about his decision to come out at this time. I think his decision to come out was the right one."
Worthy, 33, started this season on the injured list because of tendinitis in his left knee and wasn't being counted on by new coach Del Harris to play a prominent role. He left the team last month when his mother died in North Carolina, and hasn't been with the Lakers since.
"With the new Laker system, lots of new players and a new coach, it was a good time for him" to retire, said Perkins, who played with Worthy on the Lakers and at the University of North Carolina.
Worthy helped lead the Lakers to three NBA championships during the 1980s.