Baylor, Clippers part ways

Elgin Baylor is no longer the vice-president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Neither Baylor nor the Clippers, however, would say Tuesday whether he was fired or resigned. 

Baylor, 74, told the Los Angeles Times that "there is a dispute and, on the advice of my attorney they did not want me to discuss it."

"We greatly appreciate Elgin's efforts during his time with the Clippers and we wish him the very best," Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling said in a release.

Mike Dunleavy will assume the dual role of head coach and general manager, with director of player personnel Neil Oshley earning a promotion to assistant GM.

Dunleavy held the same portfolios with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1992-96.

"In Mike and Neil, we're fortunate to already have talented people in place to make this transition a seamless one," Clippers president Andy Roeser said.

According to Dunleavy, Baylor's departure had been rumoured for more than a week. 

"About a week or 10 days ago, I was approached by the team about being named the general manager," Dunleavy told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

"The sense was there was a chance that Elgin might resign. Basically, they were trying to figure it out as soon as possible.

"They had made Elgin a couple of different offers about going forward and he had until Monday to make a decision on it. Today, Andy Roeser came to me and said they were going to go forward with this, that Elgin had resigned and they were going to name me the general manager and Neil Oshley the assistant general manager."

Baylor was hired as VP of basketball operations in 1986, and he presided over the Clippers for 22 years, earning NBA executive-of-the-year honours in 2006-06. 

Baylor enjoyed a Hall of Fame career at forward, playing 14 seasons with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers before chronic knee problems forced him to retire nine games into the 1971-72 NBA campaign.

He later posted a 86-135 record as head coach of the New Orleans Jazz.