Now that Byron Scott is no longer the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the rumors surrounding who will be the team’s next coach have been flying. Names like Luke Walton, Mark Jackson, and Kevin Ollie have all been mentioned as potential replacements to lead the Lakers out of the cellar.
There are a number of excellent coaching options available and the Lakers are expected to look at a ton of different people, though there isn’t necessarily a favorite to land the job just yet.
Regardless of who the Lakers ultimately choose, they apparently want to get everything done relatively soon as General Manager Mitch Kupchak spoke on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and said the Lakers don’t want to drag out this coaching search via Mark Medina of the LA Daily News:
Mitch on @TWCSportsNet about coaching search: "It's not something we want to drag out."
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) April 25, 2016
This line of thinking makes a lot of sense for the team as they have a very busy summer ahead of them. The NBA Draft Lottery takes place on May 17, and if the Lakers keep their pick, they will move on to scouting for the NBA Draft on June 23. Free agency will begin on July 1, and the Lakers will have money for two maximum salary players as well.
Getting their coach in the building and working on all of those things would seem to make the most sense, and give the Lakers a known direction moving into free agency and the coming years. With Scott, the Lakers waited until the end of July to name him head coach, but they won’t be repeating that this time.
