After being unable to get Monty Williams or Tyronn Lue to sign on the dotted line to be Luke Walton's successor, the Los Angeles Lakers were eventually able to bring in Frank Vogel to be their new head coach. Although it took a bit longer than expected, the team has its new leader on the sideline and can move forward.
However, filling out Vogel's coaching staff has taken some interesting turns. Firstly, Jason Kidd being added and reportedly becoming the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA. As if that wasn't strange enough, the team also brought in another former head coach to add under Vogel in Lionel Hollins. There's also been speculation that Jeff Hornacek could be a target for an assistant.
As it has become a trend with the Lakers organization recently, the plot has thickened regarding the coaching search with LeBron James' agent, Rich Paul, trying to get involved back in May, according to S.L. Price of SI.com.
In May, Paul also approached at least one NBA coach to gauge interest in an assistant role on Vogel’s staff, a source familiar with the conversation told SI. Last week, Paul declined comment to SI on the Silver exchange and denied broaching a role on Vogel’s staff to anyone.
With all that has gone on and been revealed over the last few months, this wouldn't be a surprising development about Paul if it turns out to be true.
However, Paul refutes the notion that he's tried to add to the coaching staff while admitting, as he should, that it simply isn't his place to do so, via Price.
“No,” Paul says. “Plenty of coaches, plenty of people have reached out to me to get guys to be an assistant. But I haven’t approached nobody about being an assistant. It’s not my place.”
The team has also refuted the report that Paul was actively reaching out to potential assistant coaches.
The Lakers spokesperson said, “We have no knowledge” of Paul reaching out to coaching candidates and “no reason to believe it’s true.”
At this point, there's no telling what is going on in Los Angeles and just how much power Paul is wielding in terms of his influence on the Lakers' decision-making process. However, it's not ideal that these kinds of rumors and stories continue to surface as this organization tries to bounce back from a forgettable 2018-19 campaign.
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