CAN anyone hope to punish Reggie Miller more than Knick fans?
His ex-wife seems up to the task.
Miller, the cocky Indiana Pacers sharpshooter who never fails to torture the Knicks with last-second baskets, is the victim of a post-divorce “witch hunt,” his lawyers claim.
With the playoffs in full swing, Miller has been accused of shuttling huge sums of money to his buddies to hide his wealth and thereby reduce his ex-wife’s share of a divorce settlement.
Knick Mark Jackson, whom Miller could face in the next round, has already been grilled.
“It’s absolutely ludicrous,” fumes Miller’s lawyer, Jim Buck. “We already gave that woman $5 million. Now she’s waging this vicious attack on Reggie, just to get back at him.”
“That woman” is Marita Stavrou, 34, a Wilhelmina model and actress, who is in Manhattan, trying to revive her career after her 8-year marriage was dissolved on April 3.
That day, she received $5 million from a fund in which Miller, 35, had annually deposited 5 percent of his assets, as agreed in a prenup.
But Stavrou’s pit-bull lawyers, including Denise Rich’s divorce attorney, Aaron Richard Golub, are pressing for more.
They claim Miller was “devious” with his funds and wrote hefty checks to liquidate his assets. He wrongfully took money from the pot Stavrou has claim to, they say, by vaguely labeling large deductions as “living expenses.”
The accusations of fuzzy finances infuriate Miller’s lawyer. “If you make $12 million a year as a pro athlete, that’s what you do – you buy expensive jewelry and clothes and stay at fancy hotels,” Buck says. “It’s his right.”
As evidence of Miller’s underhanded ways, some note that the 13-year NBA veteran filed for separation in August 2000, just days before he signed a new, $36 million dollar contract with the Pacers.
“I’m guessing he probably wasn’t all that happy in the marriage,” one insider speculates, “and he thought, ‘Well if it’s going down the tubes, I’ll file now, that way she won’t get any more of my money.’ It seems pretty obvious that’s what was going on.”
THE court has subpoenaed some of Miller’s former teammates, including Jackson and current Trailblazer Dale Davis, as well as Rod Thorn, the Nets’ president and former NBA chief of operations, to explain the checks written to them by Miller.
Pacers’ front-office employees also will also be asked to detail the timing and terms of Miller’s contract.
Thorn, who, according to Buck, got a check from Miller during the 1996 Olympics, gave a deposition in Manhattan yesterday. He would not comment.
Buck also says Jackson, Miller’s best friend, has received about $33,000 from Miller. The most recent check was cashed in 1999. Buck claims the checks were written to cover friendly wagers on card games, a typical practice among ultra-competitive pro athletes.
Stavrou is bickering over “peanuts,” according to Buck, because she’s still smarting from Miller’s decision to end the marriage.
But those in Stavrou’s camp say she’s just trying to get her “one bite of the apple,” her right, they say, after putting up with her ex-husband’s NBA lifestyle and monster ego.
“These guys have all kinds of sycophants hanging around all the time,” says Raoul Felder, the high-powered celebrity divorce lawyer who represented Patrick Ewing’s ex-wife, Rita, in 1998. “Their star status opens up a whole new world.”
And this “new world” revolves entirely around them. “They feel they’re above the law and that people have to kowtow to them,” Felder explains. “In other words, the wife has to accept what he gives her.”
Humility doesn’t come easy, either.
“Whatever hormone people have for aggressiveness, athletes have double,” Felder says. “It’s a bad mentality to enter divorce proceedings with.”
THE Miller-Stavrou coupling seemed doomed from the start.
The two met in Los Angeles through ex-Laker superstar Magic Johnson. They were married in 1992, one day after he surprised her with a prenup. Stavrou signed, but claimed during recent divorce proceedings that she was “disappointed and hurt” at the time.
In a 1994 Sporting News article, Miller said his bride was bored on the couple’s first night together in Indianapolis.
“I told her there were no clubs,” Miller said, laughing. “I told her we’d do the same thing I do every night. Shoot some pool on my table. Read a book. Watch movies on TV. Relax. It took her awhile to get used to it.”
By the time of the interview, his wife had moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Buck says Miller felt “neglected,” adding that she was “never home” and was “out gallivanting in Europe and Los Angeles and New York.”
Pals claim Stavrou wanted a career to maintain some independence, a difficult task within an NBA marriage.
“She’s a very, very bright, articulate person,” one friend says. “I think she’s done a good job of finding her own identity, rather than just being the wife of Reggie Miller.”
Another Stavrou sympathizer notes: “It’s hard to have a good marriage in that life. He’s going off to new cities all the time for games, being a celebrity.”
Both sides agree the divorce has become exceedingly acrimonious, and it’s coming at a bad time for Miller, whose Pacers are locked in a first-round playoff battle with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The winner of that series could play the Knicks next, if the Knicks get past the Toronto Raptors.
Miller, who is being shielded from all questions about his divorce by the Pacers, appears unfazed by this off-court hubbub. He hit the game-winning basket in Game 1, scored 41 points in Game 2, and dropped in 35 on Sunday. Game 4 is tomorrow, with the Pacers trailing two games to one.
Stavrou checks in with her lawyers daily and looks forward to the May 3 property hearing that is her last hope for a bigger slice of the pie.