Just when it looked like the Los Angeles Lakers were poised to eventually hire JJ Redick to be their next head coach, a major plot twist developed.
On Thursday morning, news broke that the Lakers were targeting University of Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley. Hurley has coached the Huskies to the NCAA championship in each of the last two seasons, and he has become a hot commodity across all of basketball.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that Los Angeles is “preparing a massive, long-term offer” for Hurley. In addition, he says the two sides will meet on Friday and that the team wants to get things wrapped up with him as soon as possible.
Reporting on the Dan Hurley/Lakers talks for NBA Countdown with @malika_andrews pic.twitter.com/NwwK1Qaluq
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 7, 2024
“Dan Hurley, I’m told, is on his way to meet with the Lakers tomorrow. He’ll sit down with Rob Pelinka, their Vice President and GM, and owner Jeanie Buss, and they’ll start to dig into what a Hurley-Laker partnership would look like. Hurley knows Rob Pelinka, they have spent time together in the past, talked basketball. But this is gonna be his first time meeting with Jeanie Buss and certainly the Lakers would love to get a deal with Dan Hurley wrapped up this weekend. I expect these talks will move quickly. There’s a lot of traction here between Hurley and the Lakers. But they certainly have more talking to do about whether there’s a fit here. Dan Hurley, back at Connecticut, has a chance obviously to win a third straight NCAA championship.”
Via ESPN:
“The Lakers’ pursuit of Hurley to become the franchise’s next coach has accelerated and the sides are already discussing the contractual parameters of a potential deal that would be significant in its length and salary, sources said,” wrote Wojnarowski.
Hurley certainly has a big decision to make here. He has reportedly been offered a sizable contract by Connecticut, and saying yes to the Lakers would mean big changes for him and his family.
He is originally from New Jersey and has spent most of his life in the Tri-state region. Before becoming the Huskies’ head coach in 2018, he was at the helm of the University of Rhode Island, Wagner College in Staten Island and St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, N.J.