West unlikely to be back with L.A.

Jerry West is leaving his executive position with the Memphis Grizzlies, but Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said Tuesday that he doesn’t expect the Hall of Famer to leave basketball altogether.

“How much golf does he have in him?” Jackson said after practice at the Lakers’ El Segundo training headquarters. “I think he’ll probably be back working with someone soon.”

That someone doesn’t figure to be the Lakers, the team West was a part of for four decades as a perennial All-Star guard on the court and then a master architect of its dynasty as an executive. Mitch Kupchak now holds West’s old position as general manager and Jim Buss, one of owner Jerry Buss’ sons, is being groomed to eventually serve in that capacity.

The 68-year-old West, who has been with the Grizzlies for five years, said Tuesday he will leave his position as president of basketball operations July 1.

West tried retirement after leaving the Lakers, but was soon lured back by a lucrative offer from Memphis. He took over a struggling franchise that had never been to the postseason and forged a team that reached the playoffs in his second season with the club. West was named the NBA’s executive of the year for that accomplishment.

The Grizzlies reached the postseason for three straight seasons, a run that will end this year with Memphis having sunk to the bottom of the league with a 21-60 record.

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The late Chick Hearn loved to tell about the time he picked up the phone only to hear West breathing heavily on the other end.

“You been out running?” the Lakers’ announcer asked him.

“No,” West said, “I’ve just watched the workout of the best 17-year-old basketball player I’ve ever seen. I’ve got to have him.”

The year was 1996 and the phenom was a kid named Kobe Bryant out of Lower Merion High in Ardmore, Penn.

“He drove me to the workout,” said Bryant on Tuesday, reminiscing about West. “I remember being in his Lexus [thinking,] ‘This is what a Lexus smells like.’ ... Just kind of cruising around with him. I was in a car with Jerry West. Pretty awesome.”

West got his man, swinging a deal with the then-Charlotte Hornets for Bryant in exchange for Vlade Divac after the Hornets drafted Bryant with the 13th pick in the 1996 draft.

“Words can’t explain how much respect I have for him,” said Bryant of West. “[Considering] what he did for me, bringing me here and talking to me throughout my career. I love him to pieces.”

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Was Jackson’s decision Sunday night to remove point guard Smush Parker from the starting lineup for the first time in two seasons a one-time occurrence or will Jackson stick with his replacement, Jordan Farmar, again tonight when the Lakers play the Kings in Sacramento?

Jackson wouldn’t say on Tuesday.

But Farmar all but said it.

“That’s the way it’s looking right now,” he said, “but we’ll see when it comes game time. I’ll be ready.”

TONIGHT

at Sacramento , 7, Channel 9

Site -- Arco Arena

Radio -- 570, 1330

Records -- Lakers 41-40, Kings 33-48

Record vs. Kings -- 2-1.

Update -- With a loss, the Lakers would finish with a .500 record for the first time in club history, dating to their NBA origin in Minneapolis.

steve.springer@latimes.com