Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was in the running for the Los Angeles Lakers job in 2019 but ultimately turned down the offer. During an appearance on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Lue was asked what truly went down between him and the Lakers at the time and revealed he felt quite disrespected by the team.
“I don’t think they had the same respect for me as I felt they should,” Lue said. “They offered me the job on a three-year basis, and they wanted to pick my coaching staff, and I just wasn’t going to do that.
“And I think more so for me to be a championship coach, to take a three-year deal when everyone else is getting five-year deals and more money, and then you want to pick my staff as well, I just thought that was a slap in the face,” Lue continued. “And I think as a young Black head coach, I just thought it was a bad example I was setting for other guys coming up after me.
“And you know me Stephen, I’m a loyal person,” Lue stated. “So, for me to take the job and leave my guys behind in Cleveland with no job—they were going to be out of the league and wasn’t going to be able to take those guys with me—I just felt that was tough for me to do to leave my guys behind.
“Like I said, the Lakers didn’t do anything wrong,” Lue added. “Like you said, they offered me the job, they chose me to do it and it was up to me to take the deal and I just said I respectfully decline.”
Lue had won the 2016 NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers and expected to receive the respect that a championship head coach normally receives. That didn’t prove to be the case, though, and he promptly turned them down as a result.
Host Stephen A. Smith later asked Lue about the notion that LeBron James could have done more to ensure he got the kind of deal he wanted from the Lakers.
“He did, and he called me twice,” Lue said. “He called me, ‘What do I gotta do? You want this?’ I said, ‘No, I want them to respect me. I don’t want to have to go to you to get my deal done. If they don’t respect me like I should be respected, then it’s okay.’ He wasn’t pissed off, he wasn’t mad about it, but him and Rich Paul both stepped up and said, ‘What are we gotta do to get it done?’ I didn’t like the way it was handled.”
“Give Bron credit,” Lue stated. “Him and Rich Paul both stepped up. Numerous amount of phone calls to try to get it done. Once it came to me in that regard, I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna sit out and wait for another opportunity.”
Lue would go on to become the lead assistant on Doc Rivers’ staff at the Clippers before the 2019-20 season. He then took over as head coach following Rivers’ departure the next year.
The Lakers, meanwhile, hired Frank Vogel as their new head coach in 2019 and he led them to the title in 2020. The franchise hasn’t had much success since then, however, and I do believe that wouldn’t have been the case if Lue had gotten the job. The 47-year-old is one of the best head coaches in the NBA and the Lakers made a big mistake by disrespecting him in that manner.
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