Ranking 6 Lakers Head Coach Candidates Interviewing For the Job

The Los Angeles Lakers have been on an intense search to find their next head coach after firing Darvin Ham. After losing out on Mike Budenholzer, the Lakers have limited options in terms of established head coaches. Even though it has been reported that the front office would prefer an experienced head coach, there aren't too many of them out there barring a surprise firing in the next few weeks.

Therefore, the Lakers will presumably have to opt for a less experienced, less established head coach. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, however. There are plenty of capable coaches out there who could take this team to the next level.

So far, the Lakers have been closely linked with six coaches, with reports suggesting that the team is expected to interview them in the coming weeks. Let's rank them from the worst fit to the best.

6. James Borrego

The former Charlotte Hornets head coach is one of the names consistently linked to the Lakers vacancy. Borrego has extensive assistant coaching experience, working under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio for a long time.

In 2018, he was hired to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. In four seasons there, he missed the playoffs every single season, posting a 138-163 record.

It's not fair to judge any coach's record with the Charlotte Hornets. It's not like the team had high-end talent that Borrego couldn't utilize. Since he left, the Hornets posted back-to-back sub-30 win seasons, so he was clearly not the problem.

However, it's hard to argue that he did an excellent job there. They suffered two desultory losses in back-to-back play-in appearances in 2021 and 2022. He spent last season with the Pelicans under Willie Green but whether he has done enough to warrant another head coaching gig is still up for debate.