Jackson May Stay Around After Successful Surgery

Coach Phil Jackson has been reluctant to commit to the 2007-08 season for the third and final year of his $30-million contract with the Lakers, but longtime companion Jeanie Buss said his future is more clear than ever after the success of his hip replacement surgery.

Next season now looks to be a strong possibility for Jackson, with perhaps more to come.

“I look at him for the long haul and I, of course, hope that he’s here longer than his current contract,” Buss said Friday.

“He has suffered for many years with a lot of pain, and my understanding is that the radiating pain he had in his leg is gone. I think that will make him do things based on his passion as opposed to not being able to coach because he’s physically unable. He can now do it as long as he’s interested in doing it.”

Buss, the Lakers’ executive vice president of business operations, said Jackson’s return date remained unclear, but he is expected to be back by the Oct. 31 season opener. He has been recovering at his Playa del Rey home, watching the baseball playoffs and talking to assistant coach Kurt Rambis before every practice.

“He’s walking better than I’ve seen him in the last few years, even though it’s very slowly,” Buss said. “His posture looks so much better. He’s feeling better. Now he needs the stimulation. He needs to be around the guys.”

Jackson, 61, admitted earlier this week he had stubbornly denied the need for surgery, but then came an incident while he was watching tryouts for the Lakers’ development league team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, on Sept. 23 in El Segundo.

“He sat in the bleachers at the training facility, and after an hour and a half literally couldn’t walk,” Buss said. “ ... That’s when he knew he had to get answers because he wouldn’t have been able to function in the NBA season. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

Surgery became the only solution. Along the way, he received good news regarding his heart, which required surgery in May 2003 to open a blocked artery. As part of the preparation for hip surgery, a CT scan of his heart was promising.

“His cardiologist couldn’t have been any more pleased,” Buss said. “His heart’s as strong as ever.”

Jackson’s hip surgery was a newer, less-invasive technique performed by Lawrence Dorr of the Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center in Inglewood. The surgery began with a four-inch incision instead of a typical 10- to 12-inch incision. In addition, muscles in the area were peeled back instead of cut through, Buss said.

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Center Chris Mihm felt pain in his surgically repaired right ankle after beginning his running regimen a few days ago. Mihm sat out 24 of the team’s last 25 games last season because of the ankle.

“The more activity that’s done on it, the more it gets to be a sharp pain,” he said Friday. “It’s a matter of working it as intensely as we can in a certain range, and when the pain spikes, icing it down.”

Mihm, who averaged a career-best 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds last season, is at least two to three weeks from returning.

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Guard Aaron McKie sat out the second half of Friday’s practice because of a sore back. McKie, who played only 14 games last season primarily because of a quadriceps tendon injury, is day to day.... The Lakers were in a foul mood Friday, in a literal sense. Tensions were higher than normal during scrimmages, and Rambis knew why: “Our players are fouling way too much in practice, which is always frustrating for players.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com