Riley, West Are Offered Extensions

Laker Coach Pat Riley has been offered a contract extension by team owner Jerry Buss that would cover at least the next three seasons.

Riley, 41, has one more year left on a three-year contract he signed before the 1984-85 season, and his new contract offer would extend his agreement for two more seasons and possibly longer.

“We’re talking about it now,” Buss said. “Pat’s done a great job.”

Riley said that Buss first approached him with the idea of extending his contract when they met in the locker room immediately after the Lakers were eliminated in the playoffs by the Houston Rockets.

The Lakers were 62-20 last season. Riley’s coaching record with the Lakers in four full seasons and part of a fifth is 286-113.

Riley, who became the Laker coach on Nov. 19, 1981, when Paul Westhead was fired, said he is relieved that he won’t have to enter next season knowing that it would be the last year of his contract.

“I don’t think that’s a good situation for anybody to have to go through,” Riley said. “I feel good about what is being offered, and hopefully, it will be done shortly.”

Buss also said that Laker General Manager Jerry West has received an offer to extend his contract, which is up after next season.

“It’s the same situation,” Buss said. “We’ll get both of them done sometime this summer. There’s no real urgency right now.

“Jerry West is the tops,” Buss said. “He’s probably the one guy in the whole NBA who everybody would be after. He and Magic Johnson are the only two guys in the league I could say that about.”

West, 48, has spent 25 seasons with the Lakers. The Lakers have been in the NBA finals three of the four years since West became general manager.