West Is Getting Serious Offers

Jerry West expects to enter into serious negotiations with at least three NBA teams in the coming days, according to a source close to the former Laker vice president, in the hopes of resuming his basketball operations career.

Three teams are “actively pursuing” West, the source said, and formal, specific discussions will begin shortly.

The Atlanta Hawks could offer their club presidency, as could two other organizations, another from the Eastern Conference and one from the Western Conference.

“These teams are very aggressively in it right now,” the source said. “The pace has been picked up in the last couple of days.”

West, who resigned as vice president of the Lakers after the 2000-01 season to become a consultant, could be part of another organization--for the first time in his professional career--”as early as next month,” the source said.

Despite his ties to Los Angeles and the Lakers, and the emotional toll his final years managing the team took on his health, West apparently yearns for another challenge. West will be 64 in May, and he believes the Laker future is safe with General Manager Mitch Kupchak, who served beneath West for about 15 years.

There has been some question if West could ever be serious enough to leave the comfort of Southern California, along with the franchise with which his jersey hangs on the wall, to rebuild another, particularly in the midst of such a dominant run by the Lakers. West, apparently, has worked through that.

“He will take a job if the deal is right,” according to the source, “and he would move away from Los Angeles.”