Insider Reveals Ridiculous Reason Behind Lakers' Dan Hurley Interest

Lakers fans woke up to the stunning news on Thursday that Los Angeles is leaning towards hiring Dan Hurley of UConn for their head coaching opening instead of JJ Redick. Hurley was previously not mentioned among frontrunners for the job but he has reportedly been the leading candidate for a few weeks now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Interest in Hurley is completely understandable. He is arguably the best college coach in the country right now and has built an impressive juggernaut in Connecticut over the years. If he is available, any NBA team with a coaching vacancy should be seriously considering him.

However, the reported reasoning behind the Lakers' interest in him is absolutely ridiculous. According to Wojnarowski, the Lakers management wants Hurley to come in and help develop their young players including Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Max Christie.

"The Lakers have a young core of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie that management believes can still show even greater improvement under Hurley's coaching, sources said."

- Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN

This makes no sense. Reaves is 26 years old. Hachimura is going to turn 27 mid-season. Christie is a second-round pick who hasn't shown much so far other than potentially becoming a three-and-D type of role player one day. They are all fine players and Reaves especially has some upside but the Lakers don't have "a young core".

What they have, however, are 39-year-old and 31-year-old superstars. If the Lakers are going to go back to being a championship contender, it will be because of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Maximizing their fit and skill set should be the only thing that matters for the Lakers' decision-makers.

The championship window for this team is narrow. The Lakers are not too far from contending but they are not going to do that by hoping that Rui Hachimura becomes a starting-caliber forward after the age of 27.

The Lakers front office and ownership have to realize what they have in their hands. Hiring Dan Hurley is a smart move but giving him the job with the goal of developing players is not.

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