Seattle SuperSonics general manager Rick Sund has been a busy man the past few days.

With the league announcing this week which players are going to compete in the different events at All-Star weekend, Sund has been on the phone with Stu Jackson, the league's vice president of basketball operations, lobbying for Vladimir Radmanovic to be included on the rookie team, which plays the second-year players in the league, and for Desmond Mason to be included on the sophomore team.

"I just told the league that (Radmanovic) has been playing pretty good, particularly of late," said Sund, who has accompanied the team on its three-game trip that began Sunday. "We have won nine of our last 12 games, and he has been a big contributor to that."

When the league announces the teams Wednesday, Sund is worried that Radmanovic will be left off because a great deal of weight is placed on statistics, and Radmanovic, averaging 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds, was hampered by injuries earlier in the season.

But he is the best 3-point-shooting rookie in the league, making 49.7 percent of his attempts, and he is fourth in the league overall in that category. Sund said he also has been trying to get Radmanovic into the 3-point-shooting contest.

Meanwhile, Mason still remembers being spurned by the league last season, when he was left off the rookie roster.

"I guess I wasn't good enough to play in the rookie game," Mason said caustically. "If they allow me to play in it, I will play this year."

Mason also said he would like to defend his slam dunk championship, but a lot depends on how healthy the right knee is that he sprained Dec. 2 against Milwaukee.

Mason has gone from wearing a full knee brace to an elastic sleeve, but he does not appear to have fully recovered.

"The sleeve is a lot lighter," Mason said. "It is more comfortable. But depending on what move I want to make, I am still a little tentative. But I am going to keep playing the way I play."

Perhaps the Sonics player with the best chance at winning something would be Brent Barry in the 3-point-shooting contest because of his easy release.

But Barry said he is not interested in participating this season.

"Hermosa Beach or Philadelphia?" said Barry, who has a home in the Los Angeles beach community.

He did say, however, that before his career is over, he is going to win a 3-point-shooting contest, becoming the first player in NBA history to win that and the dunk contest (Barry won the dunk contest in 1996 as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers).