Jeanie Buss: Lakers aren't trying to entice Phil Jackson to return

A potential return to the Los Angeles Lakers organization for current New York Knicks president Phil Jackson doesn't appear to be in the cards.

Jackson has an early opt-out clause in his contract this summer which would allow him to leave the Knicks and perhaps make his way back to the franchise where he won five NBA championships as a head coach. Lakers part-owner Jeanie Buss, who's also Jackson's fiance, refuses to lure him back to the City of Angels, though, as his work in the Big Apple is far from over.

"It really isn't about trying to get him back here (to the Lakers)," Buss said to USA Today's Sam Amick. "He is happy with what he is doing, and he … is up for the (Knicks) challenge, and he's seeing the results of the work that he's put in. But he has a ways to go."

Jim Buss, Jeanie's brother and the Lakers' executive vice president of basketball operations, said two years ago that he would step down from his role by 2017 if the team wasn't competitive. There had been reports of that process being pushed up a year if there was a chance Jackson was interested in the job, but there are no plans for that to happen as of yet.

Jackson signed a five-year, $60-million contract with the Knicks in March 2014.

A new era of Lakers basketball will begin next season with Kobe Bryant retiring. The team only has $23 million committed to salaries in 2016-17, and whoever is calling the shots this summer will have some serious cap space to play with to recruit free agents. Having a name like Jackson's in the front office would go a long way in negotiations, but for now, his future remains in New York City.