Doug Christie, Sonics' top draft pick, wants a trade

SEATTLE (AP) -- First-round draft choice Doug Christie has asked the Seattle SuperSonics to trade him if they don't intend to sign him.

Christie, a 6-foot-6 guard from Pepperdine and Seattle's Rainier Beach High School, was the 17th player chosen in June's NBA draft.

The Sonics will open their regular season against Houston tonight and Saturday nights in Japan.

"The Sonics have really left a bitter taste in my mouth," Christie told a news conference Thursday. "It's kind of sad to say they've come at me with ludicrous offers that I really can't accept.

"It's not that I've lost the value of the dollar because I haven't."

Christie's agent, Brad Marshall, said UCLA's Tracy Murray, the 18th player picked in this year's draft, signed a multi-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers for $725,000 for this season.

Christie said he felt he was worth between $1.1 million and $1.3 million for his rookie NBA season. He said he'd come down to

$800,000 and was thinking about playing for $500,000.

"I want to play basketball," Christie said. "If they don't want to sign me, then they should trade me. They should let me go and get along with my life."

Christie said he planned to go back to Pepperdine and re-enter his name in next year's NBA draft if the Sonics didn't trade him.

Marshall said Sonics president Bob Whitsitt had told him he would not trade Christie. Marshall said there were other NBA clubs that were "very interested" in Christie. He said other teams were willing to swap future first-round draft picks for his client but Whitsitt had told them he wouldn't consider it.

Although Christie said he was bitter, he said he still felt he could play for the Sonics and wasn't taking the stalemated contract negotiations personally. But he said he would refuse a one-year contract offer.

"I understand if I don't get what's fair to me now it's going to be harder to get it down the road," Christie said.

Marshall said the Sonics reduced their contract offer to Christie for the 1992-93 season to $300,000 after they signed free agent Gerald Paddio to a contract for an NBA minimum salary of $190,000. He said the team said $300,000 was all it could offer for Christie because of the NBA's salary cap.

Christie averaged 19.5 points per game in his final season at Pepperdine and 16.0 points in his threeyear college career. He was selected as the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in his final two seasons at Pepperdine.