Over the last 20 years the Los Angeles Lakers have found their greatest success under the helm of Phil Jackson, who led the team to five NBA championships as a head coach.
Jackson, of course, is no longer a coach but rather the President of the New York Knicks, but there have been rumblings of a potential return to Los Angeles.
Jackson still has two years remaining on his contract with the Knicks, but according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet, there are rumors that Jackson badly wants out of New York:
“One is that Jackson badly wants out of New York, preferring to return back to Los Angeles to be near his fiancée, Lakers scion Jeanie Buss. Jackson is believed to have an out in his Knicks deal that could free him up to do just that at the end of next season unless things between him and Dolan become untenable before that.”
Grange also notes that the belief is that if current Lakers Executive VP of Basketball Operations Jim Buss is removed, Jackson will be looking to return:
“It’s believed that as soon as Jeanie’s brother Jim Buss — blamed for the Lakers current free fall — is somehow removed from the scene, Jackson will be back as soon as he can engineer it.”
Of course this is all speculation and there are a lot of ‘ifs’ involved in this scenario, but there are a lot of possibilities in play should the Lakers fail to return to contention next season and Jackson could be one of them.
Though he has come under fire recently, Jackson has done some good things in New York. In particular the drafting of Kristaps Porzingis has been widely praised. This upcoming off-season will be extremely important in shaping the future of the Lakers organization at all levels.
