After failing to secure a job as a head coach for the upcoming season, former Detroit Pistons head honcho Stan Van Gundy has reportedly agreed to a deal with ESPN to become a basketball analyst for the network.
Both Van Gundy and ESPN appear prepared to bury the hatchet on a somewhat tumultuous past relationship, which at one point even escalated to Van Gundy publicly criticizing the network. Van Gundy was livid with ESPN after the network reported on LaVar Ball saying that Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton had lost his team.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Van Gundy is all but set to become ESPN's newest high-profile employee.
Van Gundy, who threatened to boycott the network last season, will be a studio analyst across the network’s array of shows, sources have told The Post.
ESPN opting to hire one of its most vocal critics may come as a bit of a surprise, but obviously, they are set on letting bygones be bygones. After all, it is a business, and the network apparently puts a higher value on what Van Gundy can bring to the table as opposed to holding on to a spiteful grudge.
For his part, this may not be Van Gundy's first choice, but at this point in the preseason, it looks as though no team has shown an interest on him as a potential head coach. Van Gundy still has to pay the bills, and an analyst's salary on one of the biggest sports network in the country should not be bad at all.
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