After the Lakers have been eradicated from the playoff’s first spherical final week, the purple and gold entrance workplace determined to fireside coach Darvin Ham on Friday. With none time to waste, there are already some names been floated as potential replacements for this job emptiness.
In keeping with Los Angeles insider Dave McMenamin, Tyronn Lue and JJ Redick are amongst those that are thought of “actual candidates” to take the function this summer time.
“JJ [Redick] definitely is an actual candidate in the event that they do open up this teaching search,” the ESPN reporter mentioned on the Dan Patrick Present. “There’s, I’d say, half a dozen of us on the market, together with presumably the man who simply misplaced final night time towards the Mavericks, Tyronn Lue … that there can be a course of there that there are a number of viable candidates that may get an interview.”
BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers are finalizing an settlement to rent JJ Redick because the franchise’s new coach, sources inform ESPN. pic.twitter.com/m4EQZud1Eb
— Adrian Wojnarowski ᶠᵃⁿ (@wojkespn) Could 4, 2024
One factor that’s for certain, is that celebrity LeBron James holds Redick in excessive regard, particularly as they simply began a podcast collectively referred to as Thoughts the Sport, the place they break down every thing that has to do with the NBA.
It was Lakers’ common supervisor Rob Pelinka who broke the information about their coach’s discharge. “We significantly respect Darvin Ham’s efforts on behalf of the Lakers and acknowledge the numerous accomplishments achieved over the previous two seasons together with final 12 months’s outstanding run to the Western Convention finals,” he mentioned in an announcement.
Ham led the L.A. squad with a 90-74 (.549) mark, which included a Western Convention finals berth, two play-in victories, and the first-ever In-Season Match title. Pelinka mentioned that he knowledgeable the previous coach of the choice in a cellphone name earlier than telling the press.
“All of us wish to thank Darvin for this dedication and positivity. Whereas this was a troublesome determination to make, it’s the greatest plan of action following a full evaluation of the season. The group will stay unwavering in its dedication to ship championship-caliber basketball to Lakers followers around the globe,” the GM assured.
After their first-round elimination, Ham described his time guiding the Lakers as “a hell of a two years”
Darvin, who nonetheless had two years remaining on his contract, appears to be content material along with his time in Los Angeles it doesn’t matter what was the end result. Proper after he suffered his second-consecutive elimination by the hands of the Nuggets, he talked about his tenure.
“It’s been a hell of a two years … I’ll inform you that,” he mentioned after Sport 5 on Monday. “Sitting on this seat, it’s been a hell of a two years. A number of good issues that received executed, however in the end, you wish to win that final prize.”
“I couldn’t be extra happy with our crew regardless of every thing that occurred. Clearly, the sequence didn’t go in our favor, didn’t begin the way in which we wished it to, however to win that one at house, our guys confirmed a number of guts and a number of character,” Ham added.
In keeping with insider Shams Charania, the next-coach checklist to turn into the twenty ninth Lakers tactician additionally embody Kenny Atkinson, Mike Budenholzer and naturally, JJ Redick and Ty Lue.
