Agent: Jackson Is ‘50-50’ to Return

Maybe Phil Jackson isn’t coming back after all.

Jackson’s agent, Todd Musburger, said Thursday the former Laker coach was not a sure thing to return to the game in which he coached the Chicago Bulls to six championships and the Lakers to three.

“I guess it’s a 50-50 deal,” Musburger said. “He could come back and he could not come back. I look at it as a fairly equal scale at this point.”

Jackson, 59, returned two weeks ago from a six-week vacation that took him through Australia, New Zealand and Bora Bora. His name has surfaced in connection with the coaching jobs of the Lakers, New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Lakers and Jackson parted last June within days of the Lakers’ loss to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, but the Lakers have become more open to the idea of bringing back Jackson.

At the same time, a source within the organization said there was caution because of Jackson’s “whimsical” nature. Jackson has missed the game at times and has watched several Laker games since returning from his vacation, but there are days when he seems content without basketball as a focal point of his life.

Possible candidates for the Lakers also include Flip Saunders and Larry Brown, although Brown has said he plans to finish his coaching career with the Pistons.

Jackson and Laker owner Jerry Buss were part of a small group that had dinner at Buss’ Playa del Rey home last week, and Jackson has made at least two lunchtime trips to the Laker offices in El Segundo, although he and the Lakers have tiptoed around official basketball topics.

Jackson is also expected to attend one of the Lakers’ final eight home games as a guest in Buss’ suite.

After Jackson and the Lakers parted in June, Jackson wrote in his book that he was stunned to be released so quickly and bluntly. Jackson, who was at the end of a five-year, $30-million contract that included $2-million bonuses for each of three championship seasons, had asked for a two-year, $25-million contract. Buss said at the time that Jackson’s triangle offense had run its course and the Lakers preferred to go in a new direction.

Musburger said his client would not begin official talks with teams until mid-June, at the earliest.

“I don’t think you’re going to hear anything about Phil’s next step in the NBA, if there is a next step in the NBA, until a new champion is crowned,” Musburger said. “I don’t think Phil is going to accelerate the pace of any discussions. He has obligations that are non-NBA related. As it turns out, his calendar of engagements ... frees itself right around the time the NBA playoffs conclude. That’s the time when we could really jump into it if there are serious offers.”