Los Angeles Lakers: Chaos is truly what is in charge
By Jamaal Artis
Just when everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers couldn’t slip lower in the rungs of the NBA, it looks now that they have hit rock bottom.
Just as the NBA playoffs were going to start their slate of games Wednesday, news trickled out that the Los Angeles Lakers and Tyronn Lue had reached an impasse in their negotiations to name Lue as the newest Lakers head coach.
Speculation ran wild that Lue was unwilling to have Jason Kidd on his coaching staff at the request of the front office. Just to make things worse, the real news hit.
Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times reported that all talks had ceased and that the Lakers were no longer considering Lue as a candidate for their head coaching position. A shocking revelation in light of the fact that the Lakers had essentially told sports outlets that Lue was their choice.
The Lakers have decided to move on from Ty Lue as they search for their next head coach, having determined he isn't the right long-term fit for the organization, according to a team source.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) May 8, 2019
In the span of a few hours in the afternoon, more and more information from various sources leaked out leaving the entire process in chaos.
Both Lue and the Lakers had sources leak that they walked away, Lue citing not the Kidd news but feeling insulted that he was only offered a three-year contract instead of the five-year contract that Monty Williams got from the Phoenix Suns and what Luke Walton previously received.
The Los Angeles Lakers sources simply put out a statement saying that he wasn’t a “good fit.”
By the time the dust was settled, it wasn’t Lakers President Jeannie Buss or General Manager Rob Pelinka who made the ultimate decision to walk away from Lue, but then news leaked out that the deal fell apart because Linda and Kurt Rambis put the kibosh on Lue.
That’s right the Vice President of Special Operations (Linda) and Special Assistant to the President (Kurt) made the call on the Lakers head coach position.
All of this is to say who is ultimately in charge over in El Segundo, it’s obvious to fans, news reporters, and the league: chaos.
Chaos reigns with this team, the crown jewel of NBA is in chaos because no one from the outside can understand who is running the team. All anyone can see is the chaos, a month after Head of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson abruptly jumped ship the position still hasn’t been filled.
They’ve now been turned down by two coaching candidates (Williams and Lue), this is all happening in a summer where they will have another lottery pick and perhaps the greatest free agent season in NBA history.
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Yet after yesterday, all anyone knows is that chaos reigns. Where the Lakers go from here is anybody’s guess, all we know is that with Jeannie, Rob, Linda, Kurt, and whoever else makes a decision: chaos reigns.