West Is Tempted, but Stays a Laker

It was tempting. It was, in Jerry West’s own words, “absolutely incredible” in financial terms. It was not from the Lakers.

And West does not deny that he almost took the offer before agreeing last week to a four-year contract extension to remain as the Lakers’ executive vice president through the 2002-03 season.

At a news conference Thursday to officially announce his new $3.5-million-per-season Laker deal, West would not say who had made the larger offer.

“There was one other opportunity that was incredibly attractive to me,” West said. “And I’m not sure why it was, but it was attractive. And I’m sure it was the person involved. . . .

“I had a very interesting proposition from someone who has an interest in me, and somebody that I like, and like a lot, and got to know really well. And that kind of whetted my appetite, but more importantly got me to thinking, you know, ‘If you would leave, you would probably be doing the wrong thing.’

“There was something really challenging,” West said. “I don’t want to say any more than that.”

Asked if he almost accepted the other offer, West paused for several seconds before answering:

“I’m here today. . . . The opportunity, if you’re talking about financially, the opportunity financially was incredible. Absolutely incredible. But I know where I belong.

“For me to start going sideways a little bit, I’ll probably end up drowning somewhere.”

Though West said he has no intention of even considering leaving the Lakers again, the sources say that there is language in his new Laker deal that would allow him some wiggle room.

West, for his part, said that, given the trust built up over their long relationship, he and Laker owner Jerry Buss view the deal basically as a one-year-at-a-time proposition.

“I think this gives me that option, to be honest,” West said. “The reason it gives me that option is because if, for whatever reason, he wanted me to leave or wasn’t happy with me, I would walk away, and he wouldn’t have to pay me.”

Could West choose to walk away on his own?

“No, I’m not going anywhere else,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere else. Nowhere.”

Buss offered the extension earlier this summer, and West said all he requested was a change of “one little thing.”

A week ago, West was told that Buss had agreed to the change.

West said he made his decision after midnight early last Friday morning--the last day of his annual vacation in his home state of West Virginia.

“I really do not know how many years are in my contract,” West said. “I don’t know. I felt that I trust the people here to . . . I just trust them. And I’ve trusted them for a long time. . . . It really doesn’t make any difference. I’m here, and I’m going to be here. . . .

“I didn’t ask for the extension. I think it’s always nice when someone recognizes, maybe, a contribution.”