Byron Scott led to believe that Lakers were keeping him

When the Los Angeles Lakers decided to move on from head coach Byron Scott, it really wasn't much of a surprise to many fans and members of the media.

It wasn't so much the losing as much as his approach to developing the Lakers' young core that critics questioned. Any coach would've had a hard time racking up the victories with this team the last couple of years, but getting the best out of guys like D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle was a concern.

Recently on the Dan Patrick Show, Scott discussed how he'd been caught off guard by his dismissal from his coaching duties. Now, he's saying that he was led to believe that the Lakers' front office would at least give him one more season to coach the team.

From ESPN's Baxter Holmes:

“When you have conversations with guys, you take them for their word. And that's what I did,” said Scott. “Our conversation a couple of years ago was, ‘This is a rebuilding process. It's going to take two to three years. It's going to be very tough. Are you OK with that?' And as I stated, I said, ‘Yeah I'm OK with it. Are you guys OK with it? If you can deal with it, I can deal with it.'”

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Scott also clarified his previous comments on the Dan Patrick show. More from Holmes:

“And so when I said I was ‘blindsided' by it, I figured I at least had another year to get this thing turned around, and I was preparing for that and looking forward to next year,” Scott said on ESPN's The Jump. “And then boom, that happened, and I said, ‘Wow.'

Scott won three championships as a member of the Lakers' Showtime teams in the 1980s. Despite being fired, Byron maintains that he'll always be a member of the franchise.

“I'm still a guy that's going to bleed purple and gold. I love the Laker organization and want them to do extremely well.”