In a recent appearance on ‘The Herd,’ UConn Men’s coach Dan Hurley detailed the process of his negotiations with the Lakers. As he revealed on the show, he spoke with various team officials and even exchanged a few texts with LeBron James himself.
“We had some text messages… I got incredible messages from him over the course of the weekend just talking about basketball and some different things. He was letting me know that if he was there in LA then I’d have his support. That blew my mind. So we shared a text exchange and it continued even after I decided to go in another direction. But it blew my mind to get a text message from LeBron James.”
.@dhurley15 reveals he exchanged text messages with LeBron James before deciding to return to UConn pic.twitter.com/n3N4TpsVMh
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 13, 2024
LeBron James, 39, was said to be completely hands-off in this coaching search, but it appears that he took it upon himself to open a line of communication with the Lakers’ top candidate. As a potential free agent this summer, LeBron may not even be directly impacted by this search since he could be on a different team altogether.
Nonetheless, James saw fit to surprise Hurley with a personal greeting and it could have been an attempt by the Lakers to sway the coach to their side. As a back-to-back NCAA National Champion, he probably has a personal connection to many NBA players, coaches, and personnel but he was blown away by receiving that text from LeBron James.
This weekend was the first time that Hurley got a message from the 4x NBA champion and it seems like they talked at length about life, basketball, and what the Lakers job could entail. Whatever was said, it was not enough to convince Hurley to accept the position.
Hurley Admits His UConn Ties Were The Determining Factor
Not every coach would turn down a chance to lead the most notorious franchise in basketball, especially not after getting a text from LeBron James. In the end, however, the Lakers didn’t offer him enough money to convince him to leave UConn and sever his close personal ties to the school, the program, and the state of Connecticut.
“In the first couple days of it, my wife got violently angry and emotional. She said ‘Our lives couldn’t be better and now you’re bringing this sh*t?’ She warmed up when she got out there. We have a real beautiful connection here and in the end, it’s probably the deciding factor.”
“Our lives couldn’t be better and now you’re bringing this sh*t?…she warmed up when she got out there…
…We have a real beautiful connection here…in the end, it’s probably the deciding factor.”
– Dan Hurley shares how his wife handled this process as well as the reasons he… pic.twitter.com/hCcQX4mrnp
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 13, 2024
In the end, Hurley followed his heart and chose to keep the status quo over embracing the unknown on a richer contract. Coaching the Lakers, as great as it is, comes with some major drawbacks and it would have been risky for Hurley to leave behind a good situation to take a job with such notoriously low job security.
It’s unknown how LeBron is handling this series of events, but he’s got his own agenda to worry about this offseason. As he mulls his current situation with the Lakers, he’ll have a lot to consider going forward and whatever path he chooses next will likely determine how he ends his career.
Whether it’s with the Lakers or another team, LeBron wants to end things on his terms and he’ll have the freedom to choose his own path this summer after 20 amazing years in the NBA.
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