Monty Williams: Lakers Did Not Make Offer Before Accepting Suns Head Coaching Job

Ron Gutterman
3 Min Read
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

One of the major storylines for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2019 NBA offseason was their botched head coaching search.

After parting ways with former head coach Luke Walton, the Lakers looked to former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue and Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams as two main candidates. But once Williams went to the Phoenix Suns and the Lakers and Lue couldn’t agree to contract terms, they reset their search and quickly landing on former Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel.

The narrative that began spilling out was the Lakers wanted Williams the most out of anyone, but he spurned the Lakers in order to choose the Suns. And while there was no evidence of this, it helped to frame a narrative the Lakers simply couldn’t do anything right.

However, before the Lakers beat the Suns, Williams confirmed they never made him an offer despite their graciousness throughout the process, according to Tania Ganguli of Los Angeles Times:

This directly contradicts reports from the time of the coaching search, namely one in which the Lakers were prepared to move towards Williams when he took the Suns job:

“They were ready to move toward Monty Williams. I think the Lakers never really took seriously the possibility he was going to take that Suns job and he did. I know it surprised them.”

This is all in the past now because it seems both the Lakers and Suns got the head coaches they wanted and both have been doing great jobs in Year 1.

Vogel has shown a level of competency that Lakers head coaches haven’t shown since the Phil Jackson era while Williams appears to be changing the culture entirely with the Suns.

Under Williams, the Suns are off to one of their best starts in seasons and already have huge wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz, and Philadelphia 76ers — something that many thought wouldn’t be possible for a ‘lottery-bound’ team.

The Lakers are also off to their best start in a decade and that’s in small part due to the work Vogel has done defensively as well as with keeping rotations constantly updated to match who’s playing the team’s best basketball.

Ron Gutterman is a Washington State University alum from Anaheim, California, and is currently a Staff Writer for LakersNation.com, RamsNewsWire.com, and RaidersNewsWire.com. He is also the lead editor for AngelsNation.com. With Lakers Nation, Rams News Wire, Raiders News Wire, and Angels Nation, Ron assists in news, game coverage, analysis, and hot takes via his Twitter account, @rongutterman24. Without a doubt, Ron's favorite Laker, and favorite athlete of all time, is Kobe Bryant. Ron began watching basketball when he was 6 years old, in 2005, when Bryant was dragging the likes of Smush Parker and Ronny Turiaf to playoff spots. Ron's all time favorite Lakers moment was Bryant's final game when he dropped 60 points. While the Lakers beating the Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, as Metta World Peace hit the game clinching three, will always be a top option, Bryant's final night takes the cake. Contact: ron@mediumlargela.com
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