The people who intend to bring professional basketball to Orlando seemed stumped by their task last week. With more than 4,000 pieces of paper spread before them, they faced a task (picking a nickname for their would-be team) that had grown as tall as one of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sky hooks. And then, shortly before the bewitching hour, Orlando Professional Basketball made a choice.

It's "Magic," said Pat Williams, president of the group.

Presto. If an NBA team comes to Central Florida it will be called the Orlando Magic, the winning entry in The Orlando Sentinel's "Play The NBA Name Game" contest.

Williams, with the help of a committee of business and civic leaders, picked the name, and the early response was overwhelming from at least one famous person also known as Magic.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson immediately offered an imaginary, coast-to-coast high-five after hearing of the selection.

"It is a great honor if they are naming it after me," Johnson said from Los Angeles. "Maybe before my career is over, I could get a chance to play for the Orlando Magic."

Johnson never may play for a team from Orlando -- he has a 25-year contract -- but his enthusiasm for the winning entry in The Orlando Sentinel's "Play The NBA Name Game" contest thrilled Williams, who even fantasized for a moment about having Johnson in a Magic uniform.

"What we ought to do," Williams said jokingly, "is try to trade our nickname for the Lakers', with all these lakes we have around here."

The adoption of a nickname -- the tie-in with Magic Johnson was just a coincidence -- adds a bit more reality to a dream of bringing pro basketball to Central Florida. The Sentinel's contest attracted 4,296 entries.

Magic was submitted by 11 contestants, and the grand-prize winner was determined by pulling one of the entries from a hat.

The winner was John Salas of Orlando, 32, an assistant real-estate manager for Peterson Outdoor Advertising.

Salas will receive an expense-paid trip for two to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle. The other finalists will be treated to a consolation prize, dinner at Tony Marino's restaurant with officials of the Magic and a commemorative gift.

Salas said he entered several suggestions and was surprised Magic won.

"That was one of the last ones I entered," he said. "I just put it in at the last minute. Every place I travel, everybody refers to us as a Mickey Mouse town because of Walt Disney World. I just thought that kind of related to the name Magic."

Magic was chosen by Williams and Jim Hewitt, founder and managing general partner of Orlando Pro Basketball, which is seeking a team. They selected from four finalists -- Magic, Tropics, Heat and Juice -- which had been submitted by a committee of businessmen and community leaders.

Five other contestants submitted Magics, but the plural form was not chosen. Some entries -- 113 -- were received after the deadline and were not considered. Fifty-seven others were disqualified because the entries were not submitted according to the rules.

The name may be in place, but a team is not. NBA owners will convene in Phoenix in October to decide whether to expand. Orlando is one of five cities under consideration. The NBA is said to be considering adding from one to three teams. A team in Orlando would begin play no earlier than 1988, which is when a planned downtown arena is to be completed.

Taking on a nickname could mean the start of a higher-profile marketing campaign for Orlando Pro Basketball. The group has run a grass-roots campaign while generating more than 3,000 season-ticket reservations at $100 each. Williams said that the group immediately would begin referring to itself as the Orlando Magic.

Williams, who said he analyzed every entry, received an assist from his daughter in picking the winning entry.

"I think I was sold on the name when my 6-year-old daughter came down from Philadelphia for a visit," he said. "We did the whole tourist bit, and when we went back to the airport on Sunday night, she didn't want to go home. She just had that glazed look on her face. It suddenly dawned on me that in her little mind she had been to magic land. She did things that she had never done in her life. I made up my mind leaving the airport that night that Magic was it."

Hewitt, a lifelong resident of Orlando, is equally excited. "I think it's great," he said. "I think it exemplifies the Central Florida area. You look at all the aspects of Central Florida, and you find it really is an exciting place, a magical place."

Williams said the name "absolutely captures and states in one word what Orlando is. We were looking for one word that would describe Orlando, and that one word truly is magic.

"We were looking for a name that would lend itself and relate to a logo, relate to colors, relate to a mascot. This name certainly will lend itself to all of that. When we were trying to decide on this thing I bounced Magic off of someone in the league NBA who is very creative. He thought it was not only a great nickname, but out of it we should come up with one of the best logos in sports."

The next step in creating an identity for the Magic, Williams said, would be to create such a logo.

"We want to go ahead immediately and challenge those creative minds out there to submit logo ideas, artwork ideas and colors. Sitting at some easel in this community is some creative idea that could be terrific."

Williams said logo suggestions should be mailed to The Orlando Magic, P.O. Box 76, Orlando, Fla. 32802.