Three teams are separated by just two games in the loss column atop the Pacific Division. One of them isn’t the Lakers, of course, but the purple-and-gold are nonetheless the division’s only squad in TNT’s nationally televised doubleheader this evening. While we await tip-off, here’s the latest from the Pacific:
- Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Wednesday made his most definitive statement to date that he won’t return to the bench, as part of an interview on Fox Sports Live (Twitter link). The Zen Master left some wiggle room in previous comments, casting it as unlikely he’d coach again but leaving the door slightly ajar. This time, he made it almost entirely certain. “I’m not going to coach again,” Jackson said, as Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News transcribed. “I’ve done my coaching and I think I can put that aside.”
- Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob acknowledged that the team’s goal of moving into a new arena in San Francisco by 2017 will be difficult to meet, as he told Gary Radnich and Larry Krueger of KNBR radio Thursday. The hurdles to construction for the proposed bayside arena have long made the timetable seem far-fetched, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle points out.
- The Suns have yet to make an official announcement, but they’ve told Archie Goodwin they’ll send him to the D-League, according to Craig Grialou of ArizonaSports.com. GM Ryan McDonough says the 29th overall pick in the 2013 draft will play a pair of games this weekend for the Bakersfield Jam before rejoining the Suns. It’ll be Phoenix’s first D-League assignment this year.