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 accordance 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 season.
“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 probably the man who simply misplaced final evening towards the Mavericks, Tyronn Lue … that there might be a course of there that there are a number of viable candidates that can 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) Might 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 known as Thoughts the Recreation, the place they break down every little 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 vastly admire Darvin Ham’s efforts on behalf of the Lakers and acknowledge the various accomplishments achieved over the previous two seasons together with final 12 months’s exceptional 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 Event title. Pelinka mentioned that he knowledgeable the previous coach of the choice in a cellphone name earlier than telling the press.
“All of us need to thank Darvin for this dedication and positivity. Whereas this was a troublesome resolution 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 all over the world,” 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 let you know that,” he mentioned after Recreation 5 on Monday. “Sitting on this seat, it’s been a hell of a two years. Numerous good issues that acquired completed, however in the end, you need to win that final prize.”
“I couldn’t be extra pleased with our crew regardless of every little thing that occurred. Clearly, the sequence didn’t go in our favor, didn’t begin the best way we needed it to, however to win that one at residence, our guys confirmed lots of guts and lots of character,” Ham added.
In accordance with insider Shams Charania, the next-coach record to turn into the twenty ninth Lakers tactician additionally embrace Kenny Atkinson, Mike Budenholzer and naturally, JJ Redick and Ty Lue.
