The Lakers are planning to offer their head-coaching position to UConn head coach Dan Hurley, according to people with knowledge of the team’s plans not authorized to speak publicly.
The sides are expected to have increased discussions in the upcoming days, with the Lakers highly motivated to try and lure Hurley from college basketball.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the news early Thursday morning, sending a shockwave through not just the league, but also through the Lakers’ own building.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more shocked,” one high-ranking official said.
For weeks, the external expectations have been that the Lakers would eventually target former NBA player and current broadcaster JJ Redick as the team’s next head coach.
Internally at the top, though, that assessment was met with talk of a wide-open process, with some dismissing the Redick talk as the leader as just “noise.”
That insistence, it turned, was accurate.
The internal/external dynamic has left many people confused as to the Lakers’ path, which Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss have traveled in relative secrecy.
In Hurley, the Lakers are hoping to find someone who can be a program builder, an experienced winner with a track record of development. Team insiders have had long-term aspirations for their next coach since the first days of their search.
Hurley’s won the last two NCAA tournaments for UConn — an incredible feat in modern college basketball with the Huskies being just the second back-to-back champions since 1992, when Mike Krzyzewski won two with Duke.
The Lakers famously tried, and failed, to hire Krzyzewski in 2004.
The team held formal on-site interviews with New Orleans lead assistant James Borrego last week and have spoken to a pool of candidates in less formal ways — a list that includes Redick and top assistants around the league like Boston’s Sam Cassell, Minnesota’s Micah Nori and Denver’s David Adelman.
