The Los Angeles Lakers embark on a new head coach search, as Frank Vogel has lost his job after three seasons with the team.
Back in the summer of 2019, the Lakers hired Vogel after missing out on the candidates from the top of their wish list. Monty Williams took over at the Phoenix Suns. And Ty Lue picked an assistant’s role at the L.A. Clippers over the Lakers — and would later claim the Purple and Gold didn’t give him a fair shot when he was interviewing for the position.
This year’s pursuit of the main play-caller could prove to be as challenging, partly because of the organization’s own actions. The L.A. Times’ Broderick Turner reports one of the Lakers’ top targets, the Utah Jazz’s Quin Snyder, has been put off by the way Vogel was fired, impacting his interest in the job:
Snyder, who is known for having very good offensive sets and a solid defensive foundation, has led the Jazz to the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. He was an assistant with the Lakers while on the staff of coach Mike Brown in 2011-2012. Not only is Snyder under contract with the Jazz for at least one more season, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said he has become less interested in the Lakers’ job because of how the Vogel firing was handled.
Rumors of the Lakers’ decision to dismiss Vogel came out right after he led the team to an overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets in the last game of the 2021-22 season.
Vogel then had to answer questions over the reports in his postgame press conference before L.A. confirmed they had parted ways with the 48-year-old the following day.
Raptors’ Nick Nurse among Lakers’ top choices for head coaching position
Other reports mention the Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse among the Lakers’ top choices for the job.
Nurse has two years left on his current contract with the Raptors, but the Purple and Gold could capitalize on their connections to Klutch Sports — his agency that also represents LeBron James and Anthony Davis, among others — to try and snatch him from Toronto.
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