Jackson sidesteps hoopla

The class for this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame will be announced today, but Coach Phil Jackson won’t be in Atlanta, breaking tradition on the day of the NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Notified ahead of time by the Hall of Fame, the elected members are typically at the site of the Final Four for the announcement, but Jackson had his reasons for not being there.

Acknowledging there was “a lot of pressure to get to Atlanta,” he said he would stay in Los Angeles because of “my work and our chance for the playoffs ... it wasn’t appropriate for me to leave my job.”

Jackson plans to be at the induction ceremony in September at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Jackson could have taken a red-eye flight to Atlanta after the Lakers played Sacramento on Sunday night and arrived in time for today’s announcement. He then could have returned to L.A. tonight.

The verdict: Too much travel in too little time for a team that was playing three games in four nights.

The Lakers play Tuesday against Denver and Wednesday against the Clippers. Both games are at Staples Center.

Jackson said he would have made the trip if there were two days between the Lakers’ games.

Jackson’s nine championships as a coach -- three with Chicago and three with the Lakers -- tied Boston’s Red Auerbach for most in the NBA.

Jackson, 61, was one of 15 finalists for consideration this year.

As he did when the Lakers nominated him for Hall of Fame consideration earlier in the season, Jackson lobbied Hall of Fame committees to eventually select team consultant Tex Winter for induction.

“The unfortunate part about that is Tex has outlived all the people that know what a great reputation he’s had,” Jackson said Sunday. “There’s so many things he did for basketball. But I guess it’s about fame maybe more than it is who’s done what for basketball.”

Jackson has asked Winter to introduce him at the September induction ceremony, but Winter said it “might be a tough trip for him to make,” Jackson said.

Other Hall of Fame nominees this year include former players Adrian Dantley, Chris Mullin and Richie Guerin; coaches Roy Williams, Eddie Sutton and Bob Hurley Sr.; owner Bill Davidson; former coach and current TV analyst Dick Vitale; and the 1966 Texas Western NCAA championship team.

Referee Mendy Rudolph, Spanish coach Pedro Ferrandiz, Yugoslavian coach Mirko Novosel and former U.S. women’s basketball coaches Van Chancellor and Harley Redin were also selected by the four committees that nominate finalists.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com