Major developments seem to be underway in the City of Angles. Allegedly, the Los Angeles Lakers are pursuing UConn head coach, Dan Hurley, for the team’s head coaching position. The Huskies head coach rose to fame after he recently led a previously struggling UConn programme to back-to-back national championships, making him one of the most sought-after basketball coaches globally.
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While the NBA world tries to speculate on the terms of Hurley’s deal with the Lakers, former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas took the opportunity to troll his friend and ESPN analyst, JJ Redick, who was the frontrunner for the position before Hurley.
Taking to X, Arenas posted a Jonathan Frakes “You are wrong” meme, showing his support for Hurley’s appointment while making it clear that fans speculating about Redick’s appointment are simply “wrong”.
“JJ Redick will be the next Lakers head coach”
Dan Hurley: pic.twitter.com/wXjal193X5
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) June 6, 2024
No surprise that Gilbert Arenas isn’t backing his friend in his pursuit of becoming an NBA coach, at least not for the Lakers, as he wants them to pick up a legacy coach this time around, and not another rookie. Talking about it further on his show, Gils Arena, the former Washington Wizard said,
“Why is the Laker job the starting kit for everybody’s career? This is supposed to be where we get the Mayweathers today, we dont want Mayweather going 0-0 and 1-0, let’s get the great one.”
"Why is the Laker job the starter kit for everybody's career?"
Gilbert on the state of the Lakers job pic.twitter.com/Pxd5uju02j
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) May 14, 2024
The Lakers will surely have a great coach if they manage to land Hurley during this offseason. While things are still developing by the hour, LeBron James will have until June 29, to decide if he wants to opt into his player option or not, and with his son Bronny James still on the draft board, it will be interesting to see if the signing of Hurley pans out or not.
Woj talks about negotiations between Hurley and the Lakers
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was among the first to break the news of Dan Hurley’s possibly signing to the Lakers. With a few hours having passed since the news broke, the veteran reporter was back with another crucial piece of information. On ESPN, Woj wrote about the Lakers’ situation with Hurley,
“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.”
Wojnarowski further reported that the Lakers have already interviewed a plethora of candidates for the role but have made it clear that Hurley will definitely be the team’s front-runner for the position as things stand.
The two sides will reportedly escalate their discussions and negotiations over the coming days, as the Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and Governor Jeanie Buss are reportedly eager to discuss Hurley’s plans for the team.
