Ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season, several teams were in a bidding war to hire Tyronn Lue as their new coach. The Lakers topped the list of teams interested in Lue’s skill set. They went so far as to offer Lue a contract to be the team’s next head coach. However, Lue declined the offer, which perplexed many due to his established friendship with Lakers superstar LeBron James. Nearly five years later, Lue revealed what went wrong.
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After a terrible 0-6 start to the 2018-19 season, the Cavaliers dismissed Lue. However, he was able to perform incredible feats in Cleveland. In his first season as head coach, Lue guided the Cavaliers to their first NBA championship in 2016. His coaching abilities qualified him for the position in Los Angeles. On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Lue admitted that he did not feel respected by the Lakers. He said,
“The respect level from where I came from, and you know LeBron was on our team. You automatically think LeBron James did everything, which he did a lot, but I don’t think they had the same respect for me as I felt they should.”
At this point, it was clear that the Lakers’ offer did not satisfy Lue’s requirements. This was demonstrated by the championship winning coach accepting an assistant coaching position with their in-city opponent, the Clippers. Lue went on to stress the specifics of LA’s offer, which turned him off from contract negotiations.
“They offered me the job on a three-year basis, and they wanted to pick my coaching staff,” Lue said. This request from Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office came as a slap in the face. His resume consists of a championship, and many other coaches earning more money cannot say the same.
Lue requested a five-year contract from the Lakers. His aim in choosing his coaching staff was not to establish his dominance over the team. Instead, he wanted to ensure that his Cleveland coaching staff kept their jobs, which they would have lost when he was dismissed.
Following Lue’s decision to decline their head coaching offer, the Lakers went on to win the title. A season later, the Clippers promoted him to head coach, a position he has since excelled in. In retrospect, both parties benefited from the outcome. However, it leaves open the issue of what if.
Lue’s history with LeBron
The former Cavaliers coach’s bond with LeBron made the negotiations between the Lakers and Lue appear to be a done deal. After all, reports claimed that LeBron begged the Lakers to hire Lue as their coach.
Lue claimed that LeBron played an active role in the team’s search for a new head coach. However, he did not want LeBron to misrepresent the team’s genuine intentions about their assessment of his coaching skill set.
“[LeBron] called me twice,” Lue said. “He was like, ‘What do I gotta do? Do you want this?’ I said, ‘No, I want them to respect me. I don’t want to have to go to you to get my deal done.”
After fumbling the opportunity to acquire Lue, the Lakers are currently under their 3rd head coach in six years. Meanwhile, Lue’s Clippers are comfortable and have finished ahead of the Lakers every year since 2020.
