The Los Angeles Lakers’ head coaching search took a turn for the worse on when it was reported that their top candidate, former Cleveland Cavaliers Tyronn Lue, had pulled out of negotiations with the team.
It had been suspected for the last couple of weeks that Lue would become the next Lakers head coach, but talks fell through when they only offered him a three-year, $18 million deal while he was seeking five years.
The Lakers also attempted to require him to have specific assistant coaches like former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd on his staff, which he may have been open to if they gave him a five-year deal, but that didn’t happen.
Now with Lue no longer in the mix, the Lakers are back to square one. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, they are adding former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins, former Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel, and former New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson to team’s head coaching search:
The Los Angeles Lakers are adding these former NBA coaches to their coaching search: Lionel Hollins, Frank Vogel and Mike Woodson, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 8, 2019
Vogel was another candidate that they were interested in to be on Lue’s staff, so they obviously see something they like in him. Vogel has a career record of 304-291 in eight seasons as the Pacers and Orlando Magic head coach and is known for his defensive prowess.
Hollins is an experienced head coach, most recently heading up the Brooklyn Nets from the 2014-16 NBA seasons. He has a career record of 262-272.
Woodson has not been an head coach since the 2012-14 seasons when he coached the Carmelo Anthony-led Knicks. His overall record is 315-365, and he has served as an assistant coach under Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers the last five seasons.
Kidd and Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard are also in the mix as it currently stands. It will be interesting to see how many candidates the Lakers interview this time around considering it is unclear who is even making the decisions for the organization since former president of basketball operations Magic Johnson’s resignation.
