EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Phil Jackson said he is just about ready to walk away from his unparalleled NBA coaching career. The Lakers are all hoping he will change his mind in the next week.
The 11-time NBA champion coach said Wednesday he is leaning toward retirement but will wait for the results of another battery of medical tests before informing Lakers owner Jerry Buss of his final decision late next week.
Jackson, 64, is the most successful coach in league history by almost any measure, with a .705 regular-season winning percentage, a record 225 postseason victories and two more titles than Boston’s Red Auerbach. His Lakers beat the Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last week to claim their second straight title, and Jackson sounds increasingly interested in going out on top.
“Some of it’s about health,” Jackson said. “Some of it is just the way I feel right now.”
Jackson will drive to his offseason home in Montana this weekend. He didn’t attend the Lakers’ victory parade through downtown Los Angeles on Monday, instead undergoing tests on a body with two replaced hips, a sore knee requiring a brace and a previous heart problem.
“We all want him back,” Kobe Bryant said. “He knows that. I’ve stressed it to him over and over. . . . I don’t even want to think about that right now. It’s killing my buzz.”
Heat sends Cook to Thunder
MIAMI — The Heat traded Daequan Cook and the No. 18 selection in today’s draft to the Thunder, in exchange for the No. 32 pick. The guard was due to make about $2.2 million next season, and Miami no longer has the $1.2 million in a salary-cap hold for what was its first-round selection.
The Associated Press
