LOS ANGELES (AP) Oscar Robertson turned the triple-double into an everyday accomplishment long before Magic Johnson made it basketball's most eye-catching statistic.

As a member of the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks from 1960-74, Robertson's style was understated _ without the flair and dazzling smile Johnson used as maestro of the Los Angeles Lakers' ``Showtime'' teams of the 1980s.

But The Big O left a most significant mark both on and off the court.

``Oscar set the tone not only for greatness, but as a big guard,'' Johnson said. ``He set the tone for a guy that I looked up to in business, too.''

Robertson has lived in Cincinnati since retiring from basketball. He owns and operates a chemical company, a packaging company and a meat company he recently purchased. He's also involved in several other business ventures and serves on the boards of a number of national and local charities.

One of the dozens of former NBA greats in Los Angeles for All-Star weekend, Robertson said the best thing he ever learned about basketball was to keep things simple.

``My high school coach wouldn't let me dunk the ball _ he thought it was showboating,'' Robertson recalled. ``You couldn't dribble behind your back or do anything like that.''

Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan led the way as the NBA achieved its greatest popularity in the 1980s and '90s. It might not have been possible without what Robertson accomplished off the court.

``All these guys making so much money right now don't realize they have Oscar to thank,'' said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's leading career scorer and a teammate of Robertson's in Milwaukee.

Robertson headed the NBA players' union for the last nine years of his career, and his activities eventually helped pave the way for free agency.

``I'm perceived as a person fighting against the league for many years. So be it,'' he said. ``I'm glad I was a great player. They would have run me out of the league otherwise.''

The union filed a lawsuit against the NBA in 1970, claiming the proposed merger between the NBA and ABA would restrict player mobility and make pro basketball a monopoly. The action called for the abolition of the draft and the option clause that bound players to teams.

Known as the ``Oscar Robertson suit'' because of his role with the union, it was eventually settled in 1976 _ six weeks after the NBA and ABA merger resulted in a 22-team league and two years after Robertson's retirement.

``It affected a lot of change,'' Robertson said. ``Change was going to come. Each generation produces better-thinking people.

``It's a better league now. They're flying private planes, they stay in suites. Look at the locker rooms, training facilities.''

And, Robertson might have added, look at the salaries. Everything has inflated greatly in the past 30 years, but not like paychecks in the NBA, or other sports, for that matter.

Robertson earned $250,000 in his final season with the Bucks. The 24 participants in last Sunday's All-Star game make an average of $10 million this year, not including endorsement deals.

``A lot of players are so insensitive to the history _ both black and white,'' Robertson said.

Now 65, Robertson wrote of that history and other aspects of his life in a book released recently entitled ``The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game.''

Otherwise, he has kept a pretty low profile since his playing days. When asked why, he smiled and replied: ``I live in Cincinnati.''

Robertson wrote of never going to downtown Indianapolis or eating a meal in a restaurant until he was 17 _ after leading Crispus Attucks High to the first of two straight Indiana state high school championships in 1955.

``People don't understand the mood of the country in the 1950s,'' he recalled. ``Downtown was taboo. I went to an all-black high school. You didn't go downtown. You didn't go anywhere.''

The 6-foot-5 Robertson's career averages through five seasons were 30.3 points, 10.6 rebounds and 10.4 assists. He had 181 triple-doubles in his career. Johnson ranks second on the NBA's career list with 138.

And Robertson is the only player ever to average a triple-double in a season, doing so with Cincinnati in his second year with averages of 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists.

Asked if another player ever will accomplish that, Johnson said: ``You can forget that. It's hard to get one in a game, much less average one in a season.''