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The Los Angeles Lakers head coaching search took a big turn yesterday as Dan Hurley emerged as the top candidate for the job. Hurley is currently the head coach of the UConn basketball team, and he has won two national championships in a row with the Huskies. Reports were saying that the Lakers were close to making JJ Redick their head coach, but it turns out that they want Hurley. However, UConn isn't going down without a fight, and they have a big offer on the table.
After winning two straight national championships, Dan Hurley started to get a lot of attention this offseason for head coaching vacancies in college and the pros. Kentucky basketball was trying to find a way to sway Hurley, but he said that he wanted to stay at UConn. It would take something big to get him to leave, but being the head coach of LeBron James and the Lakers is about as big as it gets.
The Lakers reportedly have a huge offer ready for Hurley, and they are meeting on Friday to discuss everything. It's unclear what Hurley will do that at this point, but the UConn basketball offer certainly doesn't compare to what the Lakers are prepared to do.
“HUGE DAY as Dan Hurley will meet with the Lakers brass in Los Angeles,” Jeff Goodman said in a tweet. “One source close to Hurley told @TheFieldOf68 it’s '50-50′ whether he heads to the NBA or returns to UConn. Source told @TheFieldOf68 UConn has strong offer on table, but obviously can’t match or even get close to Lakers.”
This all happened pretty quickly as before Thursday it didn't look like there was any chance of Dan Hurley leaving UConn. Now, he is meeting with the Lakers for their head coaching vacancy. We should find out very soon if he is going to take the job or not.
The Lakers want to sign Dan Hurley this weekend
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news about Hurley being a top candidate for the Lakers job. On Wednesday, Chams Sharania of The Athletic reported that Los Angeles was ‘zeroing in on' making JJ Redick their next head coach. On Thursday, the report from Wojnarowski surfaced.
“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,” The report from Adrian 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.”
Before game one of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, Wojnarowski shared more of what he knows.
“Dan Hurley, I'm told, is on his way to meet with the Lakers tomorrow [Friday],” Wojnarowski said. “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 stated before Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals in Boston. “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. I expect these talks will move quickly. There is a lot of traction here between Hurley and the Lakers.”
Dan Hurley and the Lakers are meeting on Friday, and Los Angeles is hoping to make him their next head coach very soon.
