The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly have their ideal head coach in their sights and it is someone who had previously never even been mentioned as a potential candidate in UConn head coach Dan Hurley.
While nothing is for certain, the Lakers are reportedly preparing a massive offer for Hurley, who has yet to make his final decision.
The interest makes sense as Hurley has led UConn to back-to-back NCAA National Championships and has done an excellent job of re-building that program. Much of that has to do with Hurley’s ability to develop his players which is something the Lakers really value, especially with the recent changes to the CBA.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Lakers feel Hurley can help further develop the young talent currently on their roster, something made even more important thanks to the second apron that is part of the new CBA:
Part of the allure of Hurley traces back to the changing landscape of NBA roster building under the collective bargaining agreement. Because of the roster-building limitations of the new second apron, the ability of big-market teams to construct contending rosters by trading multiple draft picks and young players for a third star player has largely been eliminated. Beyond the 17th pick in this month’s draft, the Lakers have a young core of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie that management believes can still show even greater improvement under Hurley’s coaching, sources said.
That second apron brings about massive taxes for teams who go above it and any team with three stars making max money will far exceed that. As such, the ability to develop young players into contributors becomes that much more important and the Lakers feel Hurley can do just that.
Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura have proven they can deliver on the playoff stage, but there is certainly still room for improvement. Max Christie, meanwhile, showed flashes of being an excellent 3-and-D wing, but did not get consistent minutes under Darvin Ham. The Lakers also have 2023 draft picks Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis as well as two-way players Colin Castleton, Skylar Mays and Harry Giles.
Player development is becoming much more important and Hurley has proven he can get the best out of the players he coaches, which makes him an even more attractive candidate for the Lakers.
Dan Hurley met with UConn players about potentially leaving to coach Lakers
Whether to stay at UConn or leave to coach the Lakers is an extremely difficult decision for Dan Hurley to make, but he is at least not hiding things from his current players.
Hurley reportedly met with his UConn players to inform them that he has been in talks with the Lakers and there is a possibility he will leave. The final decision has not been made, but is expected from Hurley in the near future.
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