West’s On-the-Job Straining

There you go again?

In what has become a rite of summer, Jerry West, Laker executive vice president, is again considering retiring or stepping back from the day-to-day operation to become a consultant.

Although many media outlets are reporting it as a done deal, no decision has been reached. West, 62, was to fly to Alaska with his family for a vacation today and couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

A Laker spokesman said nothing has happened and the team will have no comment.

West has been at this point before. He even formally announced his retirement two years ago, only to recant. Although he has only dropped hints publicly this time, sources say he has gone farther down the road than ever before in private, discussing various work scenarios with owner Jerry Buss and severance packages with the Laker lawyers.

This time, even friends who have been through this with him several times think West may actually resign and take a diminished role.

West has four seasons left on his contract at $3.5 million a year. A high-strung perfectionist with a dwindling tolerance for stress, he has been troubled in recent years by the toll his job has taken on his health and peace of mind. He didn’t even attend the Lakers’ Game 6 victory over Indiana that gave them their first title since 1988, driving around, instead, and getting updates from a friend via cell phone.

West rebuilt the Lakers after the decline of the ‘80s Showtime teams while keeping the payroll low enough to land Shaquille O’Neal in 1996. The same summer, West got Kobe Bryant, who had been the 13th overall draft pick, from Charlotte for Vlade Divac.

In the end, however, the Lakers needed a strong coach to put them over the top. After a string of postseason pratfalls, that became Phil Jackson, hired last summer at Buss’ direction and O’Neal’s recommendation.

West has said, privately as well as publicly, he likes and admires Jackson. However, Jackson’s candor and willingness to discuss personnel moves were difficult for West, who used to bristle whenever a Laker’s name was mentioned in trade speculation.

A Laker front office without West, or with him in a lesser role, would be more of a committee, revolving around Jackson, with Buss setting the budget and General Manager Mitch Kupchak making the personnel moves.

“It’s really not that much different from the last few years,” a friend of West said. “Jerry’s very emotional and he talks to a lot of people and he doesn’t hold anything back. But until it actually happens . . . “