Shortly after he resigned from the Clippers in 2008, he effectively prevented the Lakers from hiring him back because he was involved in a discrimination lawsuit against Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Baylor’s claim was eventually rejected by a jury in 2011, but by then, he had been out of the game for more than two years, and the Lakers had no appropriate position for him.
Today, he does occasional appearances for the Lakers, but he attended only one game at Staples Center last year and, unlike Jerry West or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, has become an invisible cornerstone.
“Every place I go, everyone looks at me as a Laker. That’s how I started; that’s where I am now,” Baylor said. “Nobody mentions the Clippers.”
The Lakers probably think that offering Baylor an honorary position would be considered an insult, but what if they brought his years of basketball knowledge back to the team in a more official capacity, as a sort of senior advisor?
“It would be a really fine gesture, but I don’t know what I would say,” Baylor said. “I really like my life.”