The Los Angeles Lakers wanted Dan Hurley and were willing to offer him a lot of money to have him as head coach.
Unfortunately for them, the feeling wasn’t mutual.
Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Hurley has turned down LA’s offer for six years and $70 million and will instead remain the head coach of UConn and attempt to win three NCAA national championships in a row.
After a dogged pursuit of Hurley over past weeks, Lakers will regroup and resume bringing in candidates for interviews with hope of hiring a coach by Draft, sources said. James Borrego is expected to remain part of group and Lakers could do their first formal interview with JJ…
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2024
Wojnarowski also reported that the Lakers will now “regroup and resume bringing in candidates for interviews with the hope of hiring a coach by Draft.”
James Borrego and JJ Redick will remain candidates in the days ahead.
This is a massive blow for the Lakers, who clearly had their hearts set on Hurley.
The news of their pursuit of Hurley was a big surprise last week but it seemed like things were going to come together quickly.
The Lakers were willing to throw millions of dollars at him and he had publicly mentioned wanting to move to the NBA at some point.
In the end, he would rather stay with his amazing team at UConn rather than jump into the fire of leading one of the most storied NBA franchises of all time.
Now the Lakers are under pressure to find a replacement for Darvin Ham.
The draft is just weeks away and this offseason is critically important.
Borrego is possibly in contention for the head coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Redick remains a candidate without any coaching experience.
So, where does that leave the team’s front office?
It leaves them in a very tricky situation that is only becoming more complicated as time goes on.
The Lakers will be moving quickly to put this Hurley episode behind them and find someone new to help them earn their 18th championship.
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