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The L.A. source said Thomas spoke with Sterling and Clippers coach/GM Mike Dunleavy about a potential personnel job. Thomas told them he would be in Los Angeles quite a bit next season because his daughter, Lauren, will be attending Loyola Marymount in L.A.

The source said talks didn't go anywhere, because the club does not have a current position suited for Thomas, though it recently fired Elgin Baylor, who was vice president of basketball operations. Thomas' expertise is the draft and his track record with the Knicks is solid in that department -- with late first-round picks David Lee, Nate Robinson, Wilson Chandler and Renaldo Balkman all having respectable NBA careers, and second-rounder Trevor Ariza shining with the Lakers.

Lester and West denied there were job offers, in separate interviews with The Times. Thomas is doing what he can to try to get back into the game, and with his daughter set to attend Loyola Marymount, he offered to work for the Clippers without getting paid because he is still receiving money from the Knicks, Dunleavy said.

The Clippers were sympathetic to Thomas' overtures.

"Isiah came to us," Dunleavy said in a telephone interview Thursday morning. "I wasn't going to be a jerk and say, 'I can't talk to you.' But there's no position in the organization for him."

Thomas ran into Sterling at a party and apparently pushed for work and asked whether he could sit next to the owner at an upcoming game, according to Dunleavy.

That didn't happen.