The Los Angeles Lakers suffered one of the most humiliating seasons in franchise history this past year. After entering the season with championship aspirations, the team failed to make the playoffs altogether.
As a result of their disappointments, the first domino to drop was head coach Frank Vogel. Vogel was terminated by the front office in a way that left a bad taste in many folks’ mouths, and may have lasting ramifications going forward. Either way, though – he’s gone. And now all attention has shifted onto his successor.
According to Bovada, a new favorite has emerged to take over for Vogel: Mark Jackson. The former Golden State Warriors head coach is a +125 favorite, with David Fizdale at +400, Doc Rivers at +600, Nick Nurse at +600 and Mike Brown at +800.
Jackson is obviously an interesting case. He was arguably the key piece to turning the Warriors’ franchise around, but the way he did it didn’t resonate with a lot of people. He has essentially been blackballed ever since for a myriad of reasons – not having served as a head coach since then.
Fizdale is also an interesting choice. His relationship with Russell Westbrook was one of the more humorous side plots of this Lakers season. So it would be fascinating to see how that dynamic plays out should he take the reigns.
Rivers has made his opinion on taking over the Lakers fairly clear.
Nurse and Brown feel like longshots, the latter because of his past with the organization and the former due to his sweet gig with the Toronto Raptors.
The Lakers will need to make a decision on their next head coach soon, but at the moment there doesn’t appear to be a clear choice.
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