Jerry West is in the final year of his contract as Grizzlies president of basketball operations. The man who brought him to Memphis five-and-a-half years ago, Michael Heisley, is in the process of selling the team. So far there is no guarantee the new owners will keep West around to run the show.

Speculation around the NBA is that West might retire at season's end. Or maybe find another team. He surely will have options.

West won't comment on his future plans. For now he says he just wants to focus on helping turn around the Grizzlies, who lost star forward Pau Gasol to a broken foot before the season and have limped to a 2-9 record.

"We've had a bunch of games lost in the fourth quarter," West said Tuesday, just hours before the Grizzlies dropped another heartbreaker in Cleveland. "Our veteran players have been terrible. They've played very poorly. ..."

"We've got good young players, and Pau will be back soon. But we have to play harder than we've been playing."