West: NBA future linked to costs

Steve Carp

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 9:36 a.m.

Like most NBA executives, Jerry West has concerns about the league's future.

The players entering the league are getting younger while salaries are getting larger and overall costs continue to escalate.

But for West, who has been involved in the NBA for five decades and currently is executive vice president of operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, there is no easy solution. He was at the Si Redd Room Thursday to officially announce what was news more than a month ago, that the Lakers will meet the Washington Wizards in an NBA preseason game Oct. 22 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

He also was willing to discuss the long-range future for the league, which celebrated its golden anniversary this past season.

"It concerns you," he said of the escalating costs of doing business. "You want to have a happy group of players. But with the salaries going up, it's made for a difficult situation.

"The owners have a right to make a profit and the players have a right to make as much as they can. But there's a saturation point for everything and we need to have a better understanding on how to divide all the money so that everyone is happy."

Despite having Shaquille O'Neal in the fold, the Lakers are not among the NBA's biggest payrolls. But they're still shelling out a lot of money.

"We're probably 12th or so," West said. "We're not even close to being near the top (in salaries)."

West said free agency is the biggest obstacle facing his team in its bid to return to the glory days of Showtime and world championships. Backup center Travis Knight just signed a seven-year deal with Boston after a solid rookie season with Los Angeles.

"He's making more money (in Boston) than Tim Duncan's getting," West said of Knight. "You can have a rookie salary cap. But after the third year, the sky's the limit for these guys.

"The biggest problem with free agency is it's hard to keep any kind of continuity on your club."

But it also allows you to fill in the blanks, if you're willing to pay the price.

The Lakers don't have a lot of blanks to fill after a 56-26 season. They may have found some insurance at point guard with Louisville's DeJuan Wheat, who was taken in the second round. But if O'Neal stays healthy, Kobe Bryant continues to develop and Eddie Jones stays on course, this is a team that can continue to make strides.

"We improved from a year ago and our goal is to keep improving," West said. "We had a great year last year despite some injuries. We lost to a great Utah team in the second round of the playoffs.

"But we're heading in the right direction and we've got a lot of young players who will get a chance to develop together. And to me, that's exciting."

West promises an exciting night on Oct. 22. The Wizards, formerly the Washington Bullets, made dramatic improvement during the second half of the season under Bernie Bickerstaff and gave Chicago plenty of trouble in the opening round of the playoffs despite being swept in three games.

"It should be a high-paced game which will be fun for the fans," West said of the Lakers-Wizards matchup. "This won't be one of those low-scoring playoff games."

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday at the Thomas & Mack box office and Ticketmaster outlets. Prices range from $75 for courtside to $10 for end balcony.