UConn Huskies’ head coach Dan Hurley impressively turned down the Los Angeles Lakers job yesterday.
Hurley is as old-school as it gets, and the Lakers’ six-year, $70 million offer was nowhere near enough for him to seriously consider leaving Connecticut to deal with the numerous headaches of the NBA.
Hurley has maintained that his entire focus is on winning a third-straight national championship – something that has never been done in modern-day college basketball.
(The entire landscape was completely different in the John Wooden UCLA days. As dominant as those Bruins teams were, it’s much harder to build a real dynasty nowadays.)
The bottom line is the Lakers pinpointed Hurley as their top target. Make no mistake about it, they wanted Hurley, and they wanted him bad.
The end result was a big ole strike out…a result that’s becoming more and more common in the LeBron James era.
Adding extra frustration for Laker fans who wanted Hurley is the fact that ownership low-balled him on the offer.
$70 million over six years is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but if they REALLY wanted him, they could have easily extended the deal and enter the nine-figure range – or at least approach it.
But they didn’t – which brings back memories of their insulting offer to Ty Lue a few years ago. (Three-years, $18 million for a coach who they really wanted at the time.)
If the Detroit Pistons can offer MONTY WILLIAMS $78.5 million (over six-years), there’s no reason for the Lakers not to blow past that.
Regardless, Los Angeles is back to square one in their coaching search.
Who will they turn to now???
According to reports, JJ Redick and James Borrego remain realistic possibilities – and a new wild card has entered the race: Jay Wright.
Much like Hurley, Wright is a legendary college coach who enjoyed enormous success at Villanova.
Like Roy Williams (and Nick Saban and Urban Meyer in the college football world), Wright happily retired from coaching just as the Wild Wild West world of NIL and the transfer portal was taking over.
Wright is currently an analyst for CBS Sports and seems to genuinely enjoy the broadcasting world.
He’s quite possibly the youngest 62-year-old you’ll ever see in your life. A triumphant return to coaching is certainly his if he wants it.
But does he???
The general feeling is that James privately wants his friend and podcast partner Redick to get the job.
As respected of a player as he was, Redick has zero coaching experience and would seemingly be a “yes-man” of sorts on the sidelines.
If we’re being perfectly honest, we all know that James is the true decision-maker in the organization. There’s a reason why his son, Bronny, is a virtual-lock to be drafted by the Lakers despite not being anywhere near ready for the NBA.
All of this is certainly one of the main reasons why Hurley turned down the Lakers.
Meanwhile, Anthony Davis reportedly prefers Borrego.
Currently serving as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans, Borrego brings a wealth of experience, having previously held the head coaching position with the Charlotte Hornets for four years.
There of course could be a dark-horse candidate looming in the background, but with the NBA Draft quickly approaching, time is ticking for the Lakers to make a decision.
What are your thoughts on the coaching search?
How do you feel about Hurley turning down Los Angeles? … Did they low-ball him on the offer?
At the end of the day, who will be the next head coach of the Lakers???