Elliott Gets Clearance to Practice With Spurs

Forward Sean Elliott received clearance Tuesday from team doctors to resume practicing with the San Antonio Spurs, marking the latest step in his comeback from kidney transplant surgery.

He said it could be one or two months before he is ready to be activated.

“I knew this was coming. I kept saying it,” Elliott said in San Antonio. “I’m not going to be afraid to at least go out there and try.”

Elliott received a kidney from his brother, Noel, in the transplant operation last summer following San Antonio’s run to the NBA championship. He was cleared in December to run and get in shape.

He will begin full-scale practices today, and Tuesday night’s game against the Lakers marked the last one Elliott planned to work in his temporary job as a color commentator on the team’s broadcasts.

Team doctors plan to run a series of tests on Elliott before and after each practice.

“First I want to make sure he’s safe, that he maintains his health,” Spur Coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ll see if the grind changes his health, then it’ll be a question of whether he can help the basketball team. It’s a basketball decision now, not a medical decision, as to when he can play.”

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Denver Nugget swingman Ron Mercer and guard Chauncey Billups were traded to Orlando in a five-player deal approved by the NBA.

The deal sends Mercer, Billups and former Magic first-round pick Johnny Taylor to Orlando for forward Chris Gatling, guard Tariq Abdul-Wahad, a first-round draft pick and an undisclosed amount of cash.

The Nuggets were pushed to deal Mercer, their leading scorer with an 18.3 average, before the NBA trading deadline rather than risk losing him this summer in the free-agent market.

Dan Issel, the Nuggets’ coach and general manager who received a four-year contract extension Tuesday, said he felt pressured to make a deal “because of our understanding about what Ron was expecting at the end of the year..”

Mercer, Billups, Taylor and Abdul-Wahad will be free agents this summer and Orlando is expected to use Billups and Taylor to free salary-cap room to pursue key free agents. The deal also helps the Magic if they choose to keep Mercer, 23.

Billups, 23, is sidelined for the season after surgery for a dislocated left shoulder.

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Seven first-time all-stars were among the 14 reserves selected for the Feb. 13 All-Star game in Oakland.

Head coaches chose seven players for each team, including all-star perennials Karl Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz and David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs. They were joined on the West squad by the Sacramento King forward Chris Webber, Portland Trail Blazer forward Rasheed Wallace, Seattle SuperSonic guard Gary Payton and Dallas Maverick guard Michael Finley.

The East reserves will be Milwaukee Buck guard Ray Allen and forward Glenn Robinson, Indiana Pacer forward Dale Davis and guard Reggie Miller, New York Knick guard Allan Houston, Detroit Piston guard Jerry Stackhouse and Atlanta Hawk center Dikembe Mutombo.

Davis, Glenn Robinson, Allen, Stackhouse, Houston, Wallace and Finley are all first-time choices.

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Dennis Rodman, who delayed a decision through the weekend so he could attend parties at the Super Bowl, was headed to Dallas late Tuesday to continue trying to work out a deal with the Mavericks. Maverick owner Mark Cuban has indicated that he’d like the matter settled by today.