BASKETBALL

KIDD TO OPEN SEASON ON INJURED LIST

While Jason Kidd will open the season on the injured list for the Nets, and center Alonzo Mourning will be on the active roster less than a year after getting a kidney transplant.

Kidd, who had surgery on his left knee in July, was placed on the injured list yesterday along with Jabari Smith (left ankle sprain) and Awvee Storey (left ankle sprain). The All-Star point guard just started running yesterday, and has not practiced with the team. Lawrence Frank, who will begin his first full season as coach tomorrow when the Nets open at home against the Miami Heat, said there is no timetable for Kidd’s return.

Mourning will be in the lineup, probably in a backup role to Jason Collins. The 34-year-old appeared in a game for the first time since the transplant on Thursday night, scoring 12 points in 19 minutes.

HOUSTON BEGINS SEASON ON INJURED LIST

Knicks President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas announced yesterday that guards Allan Houston (left knee pain) and Jamison Brewer (sprained right big toe) and center Bruno Sundov (right Achilles tendinitis) have been placed on the injured list.

Houston’s left knee has prevented him from playing at 100% for over a year, and the Knicks have not set a concrete timetable for his return.

MCGRADY INKS CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH ROCKETS

The Rockets signed twotime NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady to a multiyear contract extension yesterday. Terms of the deal were not released. Before being traded to Houston from Orlando in June, McGrady had vowed to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract, which had three years left. The clause was to go into effect after this season.

SPREWELL MAY DEMAND TRADE

Latrell Sprewell says he’ll ask to be traded if the Timberwolves don’t sign him to a contract extension by tomorrow night’s opener. Earlier this preseason, Sprewell said if he did not get an extension, he would ask for a sign-and-trade deal or wait to become a free agent.

SHAQ MIGHT NOT BE HEALTHY FOR SEASON OPENER

Shaquille O’Neal missed most of the Heat’s practice yesterday because of a strained left hamstring, sparking concerns that the 11-time All-Star center may not be ready for tomorrow’s season opener at New Jersey. O’Neal missed three preseason games because of the injury, and sat out practices on Friday and Saturday. Miami did not practice Sunday, and O’Neal was expected to be ready for yesterday’s workout.

RANDOLPH AGREES TO EXTENSION WITH PORTLAND

Forward Zach Randolph has agreed to a contract extension with the Trail Blazers. The team announced the extension yesterday, though it did not release details. Randolph was seeking a six year, $86 million extension, the maximum allowed under the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Randolph averaged 20.1 points and 10.5 rebounds last season and was voted the NBA’s most improved player.

BASEBALL

CAMINITI DIED OF DRUG OVERDOSE

A drug overdose killed former NL MVP Ken Caminiti, who admitted using steroids during his playing days and tested positive for cocaine in the days before he died.

Coronary artery disease and an enlarged heart were listed as contributing factors in Caminiti’s death, Grace Brugess, spokeswoman for the New York City Medical Examiner, said yesterday. She said the death had been ruled an accident.

The 15-year major league veteran, who won the NL MVP award in 1996, admitted in a Houston court just days before he died that he had tested positive for cocaine. Caminiti, 41, died October 10 in the Bronx. Tissue and toxicology tests confirmed Caminiti’s cause of death as “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of cocaine and opiates,” Brugess said.

ASTROS GM HUNSIKCER RESIGNS

Houston Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker resigned yesterday, less than two weeks after the team came within one win of reaching the World Series for the first time.

Tim Purpura, Hunsicker’s assistant and the team’s director of player development, will succeed him immediately. During Hunsicker’s nine-year tenure, the Astros won four NL Central titles and finished second three times, including this past season. Hunsicker, 53, said he will remain with the Astros as an adviser.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

AUBURN MOVES INTO THIRD BEHIND USC AND OKLAHOMA IN BCS

Auburn moved into third place in the Bowl Championship Series yesterday, while Southern California and Oklahoma held firmly to the top two spots.

The Tigers had been in fourth place in the first two BCS standings, but they took advantage of Miami’s upset loss to North Carolina on Saturday to creep closer to the front-runners.

California moved up four spots to fourth, and is followed by Wisconsin and Utah. Miami and Florida State, which was also upset on the road Saturday, fell out of the BCS top five for the first time this season.

The top two teams in the BCS standings after the regular season will meet in the Orange Bowl on January 4.

FOOTBALL

VIKINGS MAY HAVE TO REST AILING MOSS

Randy Moss might miss his first career game because of a lingering right hamstring strain that isn’t getting much better. The Vikings will decide later this week whether they should rest the All-Pro receiver next Monday night at Indianapolis. Since being hurt on October 17, Moss has been limited to 11 snaps over the last 10 quarters. Though his consecutive games streak is alive at 103, he’s gone the last two games without a reception.

TENNIS

AGASSI, NALBANDIAN PULL OUT OF PARIS MASTERS Andre Agassi and David Nalbandian both pulled out of the Paris Masters yesterday, meaning neither will play in the season ending Masters Cup.Agassi,34,cited a problem with his right hip. Argentina’s Nalbandian did not give a reason, although he had said Sunday that a knee he injured at the Swiss Indoors in Basel would likely rule him out.

The Masters Cup begins in Houston on November 15 with eight players selected from the ongoing ATP race. Agassi was in eighth spot and Nalbandian was in ninth. Their withdrawals mean Britain’s Tim Henman, Russian Marat Safin, and Argentine Guillermo Coria will play in the Masters Cup, along with Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Carlos Moya, and Gaston Gaudio.

– Associated Press