Apr 28, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka looks on prior to game six of the 2023 NBA playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers fired Darvin Ham on May 3 after two seasons as head coach. After reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2022-23, Ham’s team underachieved last season. LA got healthy, productive seasons from 39-year-old LeBron James and oft-injured Anthony Davis but only reached the playoffs by way of a play-in tournament win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
As the desperation to make sure LeBron rejects retirement and ends his career in Hollywood sets in, Team Owner Jeanie Buss and General Manager Rob Pelinka will look far and wide to acquire Ham’s replacement; one that can (hopefully) appease James and lead the franchise and its four-time champion on one last title run.
Latest news and rumors on Lakers coaching search
LA has been linked with seemingly every past, present and future head coach in the NBA.
Clippers Head Coach Ty Lue and Dallas Mavericks Head Coach Jason Kidd are the biggest names that have been associated with the Lakers, but Kidd signed a contract extension to stay in Dallas, and Lue, by all accounts, prefers to remain with the other LA franchise.
Current ESPN analyst and James’ co-host on the Mind the Game Pod J.J. Redick was rumored to be in the running for the Lakers and Charlotte Hornets positions. Former Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics assistant Charles Lee was hired to be the new head person in Charlotte (after also being involved in Lakers scuttlebutt).
Redick remains the most recognizable name still involved in the process, per his colleague Adrian Wojnarowski:
He is certainly somebody that the Lakers are drilling down on, they’re making calls and trying to get a sense of what a head coach, head coach J.J. Reddick would look like.
He’s far from the only one, though. A litany of current assistants throughout the league have piqued the Lakers’ interest and could be part of the process moving forward, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, such as Minnesota’s Micah Nori, Denver’s David Adelman, Dallas’ Sean Sweeney and Miami’s Chris Quinn.
Former Brooklyn Nets Head Coach and current Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson’s name has also popped up, in addition to former Hornets Head Coach and current Pelicans assistant James Borrego.
Buss and Pelinka are reportedly full-go for interviews this week, but considering that wildly long list of names, the most pressure-packed coaching job in the NBA likely won’t be decided in the immediate future.
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Andrew Hanlon is the Assistant Editor for The Dunk Central. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and has been writing about sports professionally for more than a decade. He started out covering local high school sports before transitioning into a full-time NBA connoisseur. He has been published on FanSided, SBNation and Sportscasting.
