Ahead of a chaotic offseason for the Lakers, much thought is being given to their current coaching situation. While Darvin Han is still the guy in charge, his job may be up for grabs pretty soon, and LeBron James reportedly already has a replacement in mind: his former Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue.
“If it was all up to LeBron, he’d have Ty Lue as his coach and he would do that with the Lakers,” said an Eastern Conference executive, via Heavy Sports. “That’s his guy. Out of all the coaches LeBron has ever had, the one he singles out is Ty. Now he is in a position where he has free agency on his side and he can maybe force the team to do something to get his guy if he gets fired.”
LeBron James enjoyed some of his best years under Tyronn Lue and the Cleveland Cavaliers. From 2015-2018, James averaged 26.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game on 53% shooting. The Cavaliers went to three straight Finals in that span, including a miraculous comeback from down 3-1 against the 73-9 Warriors to win the NBA Finals. That achievement alone earned Lue a lot of respect across the NBA community and it formed an unbreakable bond between him and LeBron, who continues to rave about him to this day.
Unfortunately for James, Mr. Lue is currently occupied as head coach of the Clippers, who are still in a fight for their lives in the NBA postseason. Lue’s job isn’t reported to be in jeopardy right now, but that could change if they get bounced in the first round. Even without Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers were supposed to make some kind of run this year with James Harden and Paul George and anything less than that will be deemed a failure in every sense.
Darvin Ham Is On The Hot Seat
Of course, before the Lakers can bring in Tyronn Lue (or any other coach this summer), they’ll need to replace Darvin Ham. After taking over the coach’s bench in 2022, Ham was praised for being a player’s coach and someone who can get the most out of his stars.
But it’s been nothing but chaos in Darvin’s tenure and the Lakers are still looking to repeat the success they found with the Frank Vogel regime. This season, after battling all season to crack the top six, the Lakers were only able to finish 7th in the West, and the frustration was obvious when they entered the playoffs.
The last straw for Darvin was blowing a 20-point lead in Game 2, which pretty much killed all hopes of the Lakers advancing to the next round. After losing the trust of LeBron and the entire Lakers locker room, it’s no wonder why LeBron is dreaming of Tyronn Lue right now, and it’s interesting to think where the Lakers would be right now if he were in charge.
But no matter who is coaching on the sidelines, the roster is the same, and unless Rob Pelinka can make moves to improve the team’s depth, they will struggle to get anywhere of note in the Western Conference.
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