Phil Jackson's heart still may belong on the West Coast, but it may be a bit farther north than most people realize.
Jackson, the record-setting NBA coach with 11 championships to his credit, may have his days on the sidelines behind him. But he has shown an interest in a front-office role with an organization, and ESPN.com is reporting that organization could be the Sacramento Kings, should they relocate to Seattle.
Jackson has been non-committal about an offer to join the Toronto Raptors in a front-office capacity, and ESPN's Marc Stein says he has discovered a possible reason.
"One factor to explain that uber-patient approach emerged Friday night, when a source close to the situation acknowledged that Jackson wants to wait until the Seattle group trying to buy the Sacramento Kings is completely ruled out as an option before giving serious thought to where to work next season."
ESPN.com recently reported that Jackson and Chris Hansen, the head of the Seattle group that has bid to purchase the Kings, have "hit it off." On Friday, Hansen made an 11th-hour attempt to wrest the Kings away from Sacramento by raising the valuation of its offer to $625 million.
The offer comes days after an NBA ownership committee recommended that the NBA Board of Governors reject the Seattle bid. The Board of Governors could vote on the proposal Wednesday.
According to ESPN, "It has been widely presumed in front-office circles that Hansen wants to install Jackson as the team president of the new Sonics if they can successful complete the purchase of the Kings they've been chasing since January."
The Raptors reportedly have been courting Jackson since late April.
Jackson won six NBA titles with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, and then won five with the Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2002 and 2009-10).
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