Two former Los Angeles Lakers head coaches, Frank Vogel and Mike D'Antoni, are considered to number among the final six candidates to fill one of the most coveted head coaching vacancies in the NBA this year. Per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, they join ex-Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, ex-Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams, and longtime Sixers assistant coach Sam Cassell.
Cassell, a former All-Star point guard in 2004 while with the Minnesota Timberwolves, served under recently-dismissed Philadelphia head coach Doc Rivers from 2020-23.
Fischer adds that this tally of finalists is not expected to increase beyond these six.
Vogel served as the Lakers' head coach from 2019-22. Known as a defense-first leader, he also enjoyed extended stints with some gritty Indiana Pacers teams (led on defense by eventual one-time Laker Roy Hibbert) before joining LA. Vogel led the Lake Show to its 17th (and most recent) NBA championship in 2020, but was dismissed after essentially becoming the fall guy for a terribly constructed roster during the 2021-22 season.
D'Antoni has never been to a Finals as a head coach, but stewarded some high octane offenses with the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. He coached the last gasps of the Kobe Bryant/Pau Gasol Lakers from 2012-14 following the team's midseason dismissal of Mike Brown (who, by the way, was the 2023 Coach of the Year for his work with the Sacramento Kings). Most recently, D'Antoni served as an assistant coach for the starry Brooklyn Nets from 2020-21.
This iteration of the Philadelphia 76ers, featuring D'Antoni's former Houston Rockets MVP James Harden, has yet to make it out of the second round of the playoffs with current MVP Joel Embiid anchoring the team. That may be more of a personnel issue than a head coaching issue. Both Harden and Embiid played terribly in two potential closeout games this season against the Boston Celtics during their eventual seven-game loss. Harden has a long history of falling apart late in playoff series, while the injury-prone Embiid's body usually betrays him this time of year.
Could Vogel or D'Antoni take the Sixers over the hump? Could Williams, Budenholzer or Nurse, all of whom have taken their former franchises to the NBA Finals in the past years (Budenholzer and Nurse won titles)? Time will tell.
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