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Los Angeles Clippers' Elton Brand reaches for the ball during their NBA basketball game New Orleans Hornets in Los Angeles, California April 18, 2007. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Clippers have parted company with general manager Elgin Baylor, the team said on Tuesday.

"We greatly appreciate Elgin's efforts during his time with the Clippers, and we wish him the very best," Clippers owner Donald Sterling said in a statement on the team's website (www.nba.com/clippers).

The team did not say why the 74-year-old Baylor left. His duties have been given to head coach Mike Dunleavy.

Baylor, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com), would not comment on the specifics of his departure.

"There is a dispute, and on the advice of my attorney they did not want me to discuss it," he told the newspaper.

Baylor, an 11-times NBA All Star, joined the Clippers in 1986 as vice president of basketball operations and general manager, titles he held at the time of his departure.

The former Los Angeles Lakers forward has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and was chosen as one of the NBA's "50 Greatest Players of All Time" during the league's 50th Anniversary celebration in 1997.

(Writing by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)