Dan Hurley Gets Glowing Recommendation From Reggie Miller Amidst Lakers HC Search

After a poor showing in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers are targeting a coach from the college basketball circuit to replace Darvin Ham. Several fans express their concerns regarding Dan Hurley’s inexperience at the professional level. But, Reggie Miller is one of the biggest personalities from the NBA community to reveal being impressed by the LA side’s out-of-the-box thinking with the potential hire.

While talking to Dan Patrick, Reggie Miller claimed to admire the Los Angeles Lakers front office for potentially hiring Dan Hurley. According to Miller, Hurley’s success in the NBA would be inevitable considering the landscape of college basketball being similar to the pros. The UConn Huskies coach, per the former TNT analyst, is great at developing players apart from being a “great X’s and O’s guy”.

“I kind of like the outside the box thinking from the Lakers here on Dan Hurley.

The landscape of college basketball, as we’ve known over the last few years, has changed because of NIL. I could see a lot of these coaches, that are the upper tier, starting to look at the NBA a little bit because of the changes coming down in college athletics. I think this would be a great, a fantastic hire for the Lakers,” Miller said.

The Indiana Pacers legend also revealed the downside of the same move after hyping it for a long duration. According to Miller, every move of Hurley’s will be scrutinized as did the previous coaches – Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham.

Further, the back-to-back NCAA Champion coach will not receive enough time to adapt to the league. Because LeBron James is in the dying stages of his career, Hurley will be under pressure to win the title right from the moment he arrives in the NBA.

“It’s the Lakers and with that comes a lot of scrutiny. Every single practice, every single game, every single press conference becomes a big thing. No.1 you are on the clock, you’re on the clock because it’s a countdown to the end of LeBron’s career. He’s probably gonna retire a Laker,” Miller concluded.

Miller isn’t wrong about the downsides. If he is a serious contender for the new job, Dan Hurley can expect a lot of criticism coming his way. He will also have to manage to block all the chatter and deliver results immediately.

Gilbert Arenas was also another former member of the NBA to be content with the Lakers’ decision to target the college basketball coach. Agent Zero seemed to agree with Rob Pelinka and co.’s decision to pick a celebrated coach over a rookie coach in JJ Redick.

"Why is the Laker job the starter kit for everybody's career?"

Gilbert on the state of the Lakers job pic.twitter.com/Pxd5uju02j

— Gil’s Arena (@GilsArenaShow) May 14, 2024

Dan Hurley’s move to the Los Angeles Lakers isn’t yet confirmed. New developments regarding the signing are being reported by the hour. However, it will be interesting to see how LeBron James potentially entering his player option will affect this move.