Lakers eyeing Juwan Howard for head coach, Rajon Rondo for assistant?

The Los Angeles Lakers could be getting real weird with it as they look to get their trainwreck of a team back onto the tracks.

Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com noted Sunday that Michigan head coach Juwan Howard has been floated as a possible replacement for Frank Vogel as coach of the Lakers. Bulpett also added his own reporting, saying that Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Rajon Rondo could be hired by the Lakers as an assistant as well if Howard gets their head-coaching job.

The Howard tidbit originally came from Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus, who reported last week that the Lakers may have interest in Howard to be their next head coach. Howard interviewed with the team for their head coaching job in 2019 before Vogel eventually was hired. Meanwhile, Bulpett worked for a long time on the beat of the Boston Celtics, the team that Rondo was drafted by and spent most of his career with.

Howard just led Michigan to the Sweet 16 this year but went only 19-15 overall and recently made some headlines for the wrong reasons. He was a former teammate of LeBron James on the Miami Heat, winning two titles together as players in 2012 and 2013 before Howard became an assistant coach for the Heat during James’ final season in Miami.

Rondo also has ties to James, having been teammates with him on the Lakers for three total seasons, including their 2020 bubble championship. The 36-year-old Rondo still has a decent-sized role this year for a playoff contender in the Cleveland Cavaliers. But Rondo will be a free agent after the season and has expressed interest in an eventual move to coaching.