If there is one aspect of the Los Angeles Lakers offseason that people are closely monitoring more than ever, it is who they are going to hire as their next head coach. The frontrunner for the position is reportedly UConn men's basketball head coach Dan Hurley which prompted Golden State Warriors star Chris Paul to give his opinion on the news.
Paul was on “The Pat McAfee Show” and was asked not just about the news, but also if he can predict how his close friend and Lakers star LeBron James would feel about the hiring of Hurley. While he would not say how James feels, he highly touts the Huskies coach and says he has “so much respect for him.”
“As far as Dan Hurley, I’ve got so much respect for him because not just how he coaches but how his players respond to him,” Paul said. “Being players you can see that when a coach is coaching if everybody is in the huddle you know listening, you can see the way that guys, like during a free throw, the body language guys, huddle up or what not. So I think ultimately if he does make that decision he’ll definitely have that respect.”
The traits that Paul likes about Hurley has resulted the head coach in back to back national championships for the UConn basketball program. From the looks of it, Hurley seems to be the best option for the role available as the Lakers are looking to give their team a spark after a first-round sweep in the playoffs.
Hurley and the Lakers the talk of the basketball world
The topic of conversation surrounding Hurley and the Lakers has been the talk of the town where the potential move has created buzz in basketball even with the NBA Finals currently on between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. It was featured heavily on ESPN's “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith as he told people to pump the brakes on Hurley taking Los Angeles to new heights if he were to be hired.
“When we were talking about the Los Angeles Lakers before the playoffs began we had the Denver Nuggets as the only team they shouldn't want to face,” Smith said. “We looked at everybody else in Western Conference and we said LeBron James and Anthony Davis can take them, that's what we said. They just ran into the wrong team and it happened to be the first round. The year before that, that same team prevented them from going to the NBA finals.”
“So although I love Dan Hurley and I think that he is an exceptional coach he is a champion, I think that he deserves this opportunity if he decides to take it and what have you,” Smith continued. “What we're not going to do is sit here and act like he's going to pull off something that wasn't on the verge of being pulled off. That the Lakers were so far removed from a championship equation or anything like that under Darvin Ham that all of a sudden he's coming in as the savior. Darvin Ham had them in the Western Conference Finals.”
Hurley seems to be Los Angeles' clear front runner for head coach
The thought for so long had been that the next head coach of the Lakers was going to be former player and currently basketball analyst JJ Redick, whom he shares a podcast with James. However, it was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that the historic franchise has their sights set on Hurley.
“The Los Angeles Lakers are targeting UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley as the franchise's next coach and are preparing a massive, long-term contract offer to bring the back-to-back NCAA national champion to the NBA, sources told ESPN,” Wojnarowski said. “The Lakers have had preliminary contact with Hurley and the sides are planning to escalate discussions in the coming days, sources told ESPN. Hurley has been at the forefront of the Lakers' search from the beginning of the process, even while the organization has done its due diligence interviewing several other candidates, sources said.”
Lakers reportedly want a deal “wrapped up this weekend”
Anytime a college basketball head coach has immense success with a huge program, their names will always be involved in NBA circles. With Hurley, it is no different and it seems as if Los Angeles is elated with the thought of him being in the role that they want to get a deal “wrapped up this weekend” per Wojnarowski.
“Dan Hurley, I'm told, is on his way to meet with the Lakers tomorrow [Friday]. He will sit down with Rob Pelinka and owner Jeannie Buss. They will start to dig into what a Hurley-Lakers partnership would look like,” Wojnarowski said. “Hurley knows Rob Pelinka. They have spent time together in the past, talked basketball, but this will be his first time meeting with Jeannie Buss.”
“The Lakers would love to get a deal with Dan Hurley wrapped up this weekend,” Wojnarowski continued. “I expect these talks will move quickly. There is a lot of traction here between Hurley and the Lakers.”
Lakers need a boost after the firing of Darvin Ham
If there is one thing for certain, James has shown props to Hurley in the past as he posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) back in April after UConn won the national championship and showed his support. Funny enough, it was in response to an interview with Redick and Hurley as James said “He’s so DAMN GOOD!!! Along with his staff. Super creative with their O! Love it.”
There are still questions surrounding how the transition could be from college to professional basketball, but the Lakers desperately need a spark after they let go of Darvin Ham. This season, Los Angeles finished 47-35 which put them at the seventh seed and got swept by the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
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