The top priority for the Los Angeles Lakers currently is to find the franchise’s next head coach. There are already a number of names being tossed around as possibilities, but the Lakers are just now beginning to schedule interviews with potential candidates.
Of course there will be a number of factors at play when deciding the right person to take over the job. The Lakers are in win-now mode with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way. But with LeBron at the tailend of his career, the franchise is also thinking about the future and ideally the team’s new coach will be able to lead the Lakers in both eras.
According to Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic, the Lakers next coach will be tasked with leading the end of this LeBron-Davis era as well as the one after with Davis at the forefront:
The franchise’s next coach will be tasked with guiding both the end of the LeBron James–Anthony Davis era — potentially a two-year window — and then the next era of Lakers basketball led by Davis. Los Angeles is looking for a coach who can grow with the franchise for years to come, according to team and league sources, placing a premium on maximizing Davis’ greatness, the current returning players and the element of high-level player development.
As one source briefed on the situation said, “This should be more of a hire about AD than LeBron.”
This makes a lot of sense from the Lakers’ point of view as they obviously want to win now, but they also know that LeBron doesn’t have much time left and must plan for life after he has retired. Davis would then be the face of the franchise, so whoever the coach is must be able to get the most out of the talented big man.
While Davis has had his ups and downs with the Lakers, he is coming off the best season of his time in L.A. and proved his greatness on both ends of the court once again. This coaching hire is of the utmost importance and the Lakers, at the very least, have an idea of what they are looking for and now must make the right choice.
JJ Redick, James Borrego, Sam Cassell early ‘leading targets’ in Lakers head coach search
While the Lakers have yet to get interviews underway, there are already a couple of names that seem to be at the forefront of the franchise’s search.
A recent report stated that ESPN analyst JJ Redick, New Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego and Boston Celtics assistant Sam Cassell are the leading targets at this stage of the Lakers’ head coaching search.
There have been other names mentioned as possibilities as well, including Denver Nuggets lead assistant David Adelman and Minnesota Timberwolves lead assistant Micah Nori, so there is plenty of time for the right candidate to emerge.
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