After an exciting week, the Lakers’ hunt for their next head coach has come back to ground zero. In the last few days, the Lakers management was focused on signing UConn’s Dan Hurley, who led the Huskies to this year’s NCAA Championship win. However, the 51-year-old shocked everyone by declining the lucrative six-year, $70 million offer presented to him by the LA side for the job. On the recent episode of UNDISPUTED, former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson declared that the reason why Hurley didn’t agree to the deal was because the Lakers were being ‘cheap’ with their approach.
Advertisement
As good as the offer was, Johnson thinks that the Lakers undervalued the UConn coach. He said, “They got cheap. Simple.” In his opinion, Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office should’ve crunched their numbers considering the fact that Hurley already has a lucrative job in Connecticut
Despite the Lakers’ head coaching gig being a respectable position, for Hurley to leave a third straight national title shot to take charge of a struggling team with an ageing superstar and an impatient fanbase, the Lakers should’ve made him a better offer.
Johnson said, “If I want you and I’m courting you and you’re the guy, you need to calculate everything.” The NFL legend added that the Lakers management should’ve done a better job in considering the living expenses, taxes, media pressure etc. in the West Coast to reach a number that would’ve been good enough to make Hurley step out of his comfort zone at UConn.
Interestingly, Hurley ended up benefitting from their offer because now his valuation is set higher.
“The Lakers got cheap.”@keyshawn on Dan Hurley turning down Lakers HC job to stay at UConn pic.twitter.com/LPanhUnPHQ
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) June 11, 2024
According to several reports, the new contract between UConn and Hurley is estimated to be at $50 million for six years. Even though it’s a $20 million cut on what he would’ve made in LA, Hurley gets to live in the East Coast and coach a team that’s on the verge of an NCAA three-peat.
Zach Lowe of ESPN also echoed the same opinion on a recent episode of Get Up.
Zach Lowe believes that the Lakers job was not attractive to Dan Hurley
Taking up the Lakers’ head coaching job would have been Hurley’s ticket to the big leagues. Additionally, he would’ve made great money and gained the experience of coaching in the NBA. That’s pretty much where the perks end.
On the other hand, the liabilities are endless in LA. Lowe said, “He’s [Hurley is] the king of college basketball. The Lakers’ job is not that great of a job. They’re a play-in team pretty much every year, in a conference that is only getting better every year, all around them.”
Lowe also said that the Lakers are not going to become a superior team in the league in the next few years. In his opinion, this struggle will last a little longer. He said, “We’re not that far away from the Lakers being a straight up bad team for five or six years.”
So, by not taking the Lakers up on their offer, Hurley has done himself a favor. And the Lakers might have shot themselves in the foot, according to many experts.
