Los Angeles Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Lakers' head-coaching search is a complete mess

By Adam Taylor | Last updated Jun 11, 2024 5:15 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers coaching search is quickly becoming an unwanted saga. The franchise is running out of viable options, and firing Darvin Ham seems like a knee-jerk reaction with no foresight. On Monday, Dan Hurley rejected a six-year $70 million offer from the Lakers, opting to remain with the UConn Huskies.

When Hurley's name first emerged as a candidate, rumors began to swirl, stating he had been the team's first-choice coaching option all along. According to Shams Charania, who was speaking on Tuesday's edition of FanDuel TV's "Run It Back," that wasn't the truth.

"And then they last week on Wednesday turned their attention, I’m told, to Dan Hurley," Charania said. "He was not the No. 1 candidate, the number one guy to go and pursue from the start, from the beginning. But they felt there was an opening for him, he was in contract negotiations with UConn, he was discussing a deal to go back and they felt like there was an opening and they threw what people around the league believe was a Hail Mary offer at him — six years, $70 million."

“[Dan Hurley] was not the #1 candidate to go and pursue from the start… At the end of the day - he chose to stay for $20M less at UConn”@ShamsCharania on the #Lakers head coaching search pic.twitter.com/WLYBVVQi6u
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) June 11, 2024

James Borrego appears to be a front-runner for the Cleveland Cavaliers job. That leaves JJ Redick as the lone candidate from Los Angeles' initial search. Pelinka is quickly running out of viable options. If the Lakers envisioned Redick as being their best candidate, he would already have the job.

Sam Cassell, Jay Wright and Kenny Atkinson are also potential options for Los Angeles. However, they will know that they were never the first choice as they enter into negotiations, which may give them cause for concern.

The Lakers aren't known for being a patient franchise. Given their current roster and recent performance levels, that is likely scaring away potential coaching candidates. Nobody wants to risk their reputation on a roster they don't believe is good enough to contend for a championship. As such, the Lakers find themselves in a mess. They have limited options available and are quickly running out of time to get a new coach through the door before the NBA Draft.

Pelinka is paid to deal with this sort of pressure. He knew the risks when he chose to release Ham. The coaching market wasn’t awash with elite veteran talent. As such, he must now clean up his mess. After all, he must convince LeBron James he can still compete while wearing the Purple and Gold. Otherwise, the Lakers could be looking for a new vice president of basketball operations as well as a new head coach.

Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor is a sports journalist based out of the UK. Adam has been covering the NBA for nearly a decade with a core focus on the Boston Celtics. He currently holds bylines with Yardbarker, SB Nation and USA Today

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