It has been more than a week since the Los Angeles Lakers fired Darvin Ham after he spent the last two seasons as their head coach. While they’re expected to take their time in evaluating who should be their next head coach, they won’t be wasting time in getting started.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported over the weekend that their coaching search will start in earnest at the draft combine, which began in Chicago on Sunday.
It looks like L.A.’s initial interviews will take place soon, and they will start by talking to men who are currently assistant coaches with other teams.
Via ESPN:
“The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to start contacting coaching candidates in the coming days, with an initial concentration on sitting assistants and ex-head coaches with whom they have less familiarity, sources told ESPN on Monday,” wrote Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin.
“Lakers VP of Basketball Operations and general manager Rob Pelinka has been gathering information on a number of head-coaching candidates, including ESPN analyst JJ Redick, sources said. The initial wave of requests for interview permission will be with those the organization hasn’t met with in previous searches, or simply knows less than other candidates.
“The initial interview list is expected to include assistant candidates such as Miami’s Chris Quinn and New Orleans’ James Borrego, sources said.
“The search is expected to proceed in stages with this first wave, then a period of talking to coaches with whom the Lakers have more history, followed by a whittling of the list to a final round of candidates, sources said.”
The Lakers’ other head coaching candidates reportedly include Kenny Atkinson, who was the Brooklyn Nets’ head coach several years ago, current assistants David Adelman and Micah Nori and JJ Redick, who has no real head coaching experience and co-hosts the “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James.