Laker guard Michael Cooper seems to have...

Laker guard Michael Cooper seems to have one foot in Italy and the other in the NBA.

“We must only wait for a few days for the actual signing,” Valerio Bianchini, coach of Il Messaggero of Rome, told a sports newspaper in Milan. “Cooper is practically in our hands.”

But the Lakers said no decision on Cooper has been made. Last week it was reported that the Lakers are planning to put Cooper on waivers Wednesday. Any NBA team would have 48 hours to claim him at his salary of a little more than $600,000. If all teams pass, Cooper would be free to accept the Il Messaggero offer.