Brown on way out of Motown

New York could be next stop for former KU coach

? Larry Brown and the Detroit Pistons are ready to part ways.

Pistons president Joe Dumars told ESPN on Monday that the team and Brown are in ongoing talks for a buyout of Brown’s contract, which has three years left at an estimated $18 million.

Dumars added that Brown’s staff has been told that the talks are ongoing. No one has been fired or dismissed.

“We have not agreed to anything with Larry and there is no buyout yet,” team president Dumars said.”

Brown’s agent and Dumars spoke Monday, attempting to reach a resolution after weeks of negotiations about the Hall of Fame coach’s future. Two years ago, Detroit signed Brown to a five-year contract worth about $25 million, plus incentive bonuses.

A person familiar with the Pistons’ thinking insists a holdup is a provision that would prohibit former Kansas University coach Brown from coaching the New York Knicks in 2005-06.

If a deal is struck that bars Brown from taking another job immediately, the Knicks would name Herb Williams. The Knicks may be willing to offer the Pistons compensation with either draft picks and/or cash.

Brown has been resting, on doctor’s orders, at his vacation home in New York since he checked out of a hospital earlier this month.

The morning after last month’s NBA draft, the 64-year-old Brown was hospitalized for treatment of a medical problem that developed from complications following hip surgery in November and persisted after a second procedure in March.

Brown has said if doctors deemed him healthy enough, he wanted to return next season to coach the Pistons next season.