Clipper Owner Says Valvano Will Be Interviewed, but Coach Denies Report

Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling said Thursday that North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano will be in Los Angeles for an interview next Wednesday, but Valvano denied it.

While saying that Don Casey, Clipper interim coach since Jan. 19, is the leading candidate to become head coach, Sterling said Art Kaminsky, Valvano’s agent, called Wednesday and asked for a meeting. Valvano, in Rocky Mount, N.C., to address a North Carolina State booster club, said that he has no plans to meet with the Clippers.

“This is news to me,” Valvano told the News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C. “I’m not planning on being out there.”

Said Jay Grossman, an assistant to Kaminsky: “There has been no scheduled meeting at this point.”

To which Sterling said: “I’m confirming that we spoke (with Kaminsky) and that there is a meeting scheduled. I have no idea why he would say that.”