Whether Dan Hurley rejected the Los Angeles Lakers’ offer to be their next head coach because he wasn’t impressed with them or simply because he loves what he has at the University of Connecticut, his rejection has felt like a gut punch.
The Lakers are now back to square one, which presumably means JJ Redick, a former sharpshooter and current broadcaster and podcaster with no coaching experience, is the favorite to land the job.
Or is he?
One may figure that going from being their inevitable choice to being a distant second behind Hurley, at least for a few days, would make Redick think twice about wanting to coach Los Angeles.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic said on the latest edition of “Buha’s Block” that he has received conflicting messages about where Redick ranks on L.A.’s list right now.
“In talking to different people today, there has not been a clear Plan B for the Lakers from this situation,” Buha said. “I thought that this was likely going to just be a five-day interlude and the Lakers would go back to the J.J. Redick well and try to circle back and mend fences and just go back and make him the front runner or the favorite or whatever term you want to use again and that would be the likely outcome. But in having conversations with people in and outside of the organization today it has been a mixed bag in terms of what is the Plan B. I’ve heard things ranging from J.J. is still the front runner, J.J. is still the favorite to J.J. is in the mix but there might be a little bit of a reset there in terms of the Lakers really reevaluating all the candidates again and sort of refreshing the candidate pool in terms of looking at everybody through a new lens.”
Aside from Redick, James Borrego, the New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach who has reportedly had two interviews with the Lakers, is reportedly another prime candidate in the wake of Hurley’s rejection.
The team reportedly wants to decide on a head coach before the draft begins on June 26.