Darvin Ham has been fired as Lakers coach, partly because players didn’t accept his adjustments and teaching methods, partly as a scapegoat to cover for some poor roster-building decisions in recent years (general manager Rob Pelinka cleaned up that as best he could, but the damage was never completely undone). The Lakers have gone through six coaches in the 13 seasons since Phil Jackson left the team, who’s next in one of the biggest but toughest jobs in the league?
Neither Tyronn Lue nor Jason Kidd. Or, at least, it’s highly unlikely, despite their names appearing in rumors.
The reason is simple: Both have contracts for one more year with their respective teams and are not about to be fired, which is sSomething Marc Stein wrote about in his newsletter. In fact, both the Clippers and Mavericks are looking to extend their coach beyond this year.
“Like I said, I want to be here. Hopefully, we’ll be able to solidify that…” Lue said when asked about the Lakers rumors following the Clippers’ elimination from the playoffs by Kidd’s Mavericks. “I didn’t come in to run around, go all over the place. (Clippers owner, management) were great to me. Just having a great relationship with the owner, with the front office. It’s great. I would love to be here long term “
Kidd is expected to be offered and sign a contract extension to stay in Dallas with Luka Doncic and a contending team. Stein reported.
Even if one of those coaches went to their respective teams and said they wanted to leave (which, to be clear, neither of them have, this is just a hypothesis), the Clippers and Mavericks will still have the coach under contract. and they won’t let him. he walks out the door to a conference rival. In theory, the Lakers could try to trade for one of those coaches, but even if the Clippers/Mavericks didn’t hang up on the call, the price would be a pair of first-round picks. In the Lakers’ case, they need those picks more to retool talent around LeBron James and Anthony Davis than to get a coach.
What Lue and Kidd have in common are ties to LeBron, who is expected to opt out of the $51.4 million final year of his contract with Los Angeles. The Lakers desperately want to keep him (and most around the league expect him to re-sign in Los Angeles) and part of that is bringing in the coach he wants. Knowing that, it’s no surprise that at least the names were leaked; It’s a sign that the Lakers are looking and trying, even if the results are unrealistic.
Other names mentioned as possible Lakers coaches include former NBA head coach Mike Budenholzer, who won a championship with the Bucks, and Kenny Atkinson. Surely there will be others.
Just don’t expect a team to hand over its star coach to the Lakers.
