NBPA PRESIDENT EWING CALLS FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOYCOTT

          In the event of a July 1 lockout, "there's growing
     concern the 12 NBA players chosen to compete in this
     summer's World Championships in Athens will boycott,"
     according to Peter Vecsey of the N.Y. POST.  Vecsey reports
     that NBPA President Patrick Ewing "admitted" the he is
     "pressuring" World Championship members "to stay home." 
     Ewing: "This isn't about our country, our flag, or the
     Olympics, this is about promoting and marketing the NBA
     worldwide.  I'm telling them they shouldn't play if we're
     locked out.  We need to show the owners we're together on
     every issue."  While the "important global setting" of the
     event "serves to sell" the NBA and its players, Vecsey
     writes that a players' boycott "would add another stain to
     the NBA's smudged image and greatly diminish the
     merchandising" of NBA apparel (N.Y. POST, 5/29).