On Thursday morning, a bombshell report came out that the Los Angeles Lakers are pulling out all the stops in their pursuit of UConn's Dan Hurley to be the franchise's next head coach. Hurley has been wildly successful in his six-year stint thus far in UConn; the Huskies have won the last two national championships under his watch. Clearly, he is a hot name on the coaching market, and the Lakers are looking to be the team that brings him up to the NBA level.

Hurley has made waves as one of the best coaches at Xs and Os, with Lakers star LeBron James even showing the UConn coach some love in his podcast with another candidate for the Lakers job, JJ Redick. UConn is running plenty of complex sets which many of the coaches in the NBA, as per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, believe would translate to the next level.

But beyond his tactical nous, the Lakers are also going all out for Dan Hurley in the hopes that he can bring out the best in the team's young core led by 26-year old guard Austin Reaves.

“Beyond the 17th overall pick in this month's draft, the Lakers have a young core of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie that management believes can still show even greater improvement under Hurley's coaching, sources said,” Wojnarowski wrote.

The league's new collective bargaining agreement makes it difficult for teams to build star-studded rosters, which means that teams with championship aspirations must develop their young players into high-level contributors. The Lakers are hoping that Dan Hurley becomes the guy who would put Reaves, Hachimura, and Christie in optimal positions to succeed as well as develop whomever they select with the 17th and 56th overall picks of the 2024 NBA Draft — be it Bronny James or someone else entirely.

Lakers' (not-so) young core

It might be shocking to some, but Austin Reaves, as mentioned above, is already 26 years old. For reference, Reaves is older than the likes of Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and he's the same age as Jayson Tatum, although Tatum is two months older than the Lakers guard.

Rui Hachimura is also 26 years old, so he's not so young anymore. Both Hachimura and Reaves should be entering their peak years, but it's fair to wonder just how much untapped potential there is for the two.

Reaves, in particular, has already been playing above expectations, seeing as he went undrafted. He continues to improve, as he averaged 16-4-6 last season. However, Reaves, despite improvements to his counting stats, saw a bit of drop-off in efficiency and he also got to the foul line less often last season than he did two years ago.

It's also hard to ascertain what kind of “improvement” the Lakers are looking for in Austin Reaves if they manage to snag Dan Hurley from UConn. Do the Lakers want Reaves to be a 20-5-5 guy? That will require more usage. Will the Lakers give Reaves more shot attempts? Reaves' efficiency declined with an increase in responsibility; there is a chance that another drop-off occurs if he commandeers possessions more often.

Meanwhile, Rui Hachimura is a valuable roster piece, seeing as he's 6'8, making him a switchable defender both on wings and big men. Hachimura also provides some scoring boost (13.6 ppg in 2023-24), and last season, he averaged a career-best in overall scoring efficiency. Perhaps giving him more shots could be worthwhile.

But his overall impact is limited, as he isn't exactly a great playmaker or ballhandler. Under Hurley, Hachimura could be the Lakers' own Michael Porter Jr., but the Japanese international doesn't launch nearly as many threes as the Denver Nuggets wing does.

If anything, Lakers fans could get excited about the potential development of Max Christie under Hurley. Christie is a true young player; he is only 21 years old, so he has plenty of time to improve and become a quality role player.

For starters, Christie is a pogo stick on the glass, and Lakers fans have applauded the 21-year old wing for his incredible effort whenever he's on the court. Christie's athleticism also allows him to stick with ballhandlers on the perimeter.

Alas, Christie's offensive game needs a ton of work. His three-point shot will be his make-or-break skill. Christie shot 35.6 percent from three last season on low volume; that has to improve if he were to become a legitimate rotation piece for the Lakers.

The Lakers are high on Christie, as they have decided to hang onto him for the past two seasons instead of trading him away for immediate veteran help. He won't be turning 22 until February of next year, so the future is bright for the 6'6 wing out of Michigan State.