Woj Dispels Myth About Lakers Head Coaching Search
The day-in, day-out coverage of NBA offseason moves (even when the playoffs are still underway) can be a lot of fun for a fan. A head coaching search is a huge deal for a franchise, and getting inside info on the all the intimate details is great. But sometimes a game of broken telephone leads to bad information getting out there.
That happened earlier when people starting taking Shams Charania's comments about the Los Angeles Lakers' love of J.J. Redick as a candidate to mean that he was all but a lock.
While Redick is preparing as if he may get the job Shams never actually said it's a sure thing, and Adrian Wojnarowski has now confirmed that it's far too early in the process to act like anything is a done deal.
Lakers News: Head Coaching Search is Still Wide Open
Woj confirmed that the Lakers are "nowhere close" to being done with their coaching search. Matching earlier reports, the Lakers are bringing in plenty of candidates for "long, in-depth interviews." The only name he actually even calls out (because they were meeting on Wednesday, when Woj was reporting) was James Borrego.
They're doing their due diligence on plenty of names however. Borrego, Redick and Chris Quinn were highlighted as "notable interviews" that are coming up, and Sam Cassell was also a name that had popped up in the first round of inteviews.
It's also important to remember that it's far from a guarantee that the Lakers will automatically land their preferred candidate. There's a lot to like about the upside with this job, but it's not for everyone. Not everyone wants to handle the difficult position of coaching a team with LeBron James on it. Not everyone wants to handle the decision of what to potentially do with Bronny James. Not everyone wants the pressure of keeping the Lakers in contention if LeBron does leave.
Borrego is going to be a popular target for many teams this offseason, and he could find a job that interests him more than the Lakers opening.
Woj and Shams are two of the most well-connected reporters in the sports world (let alone the NBA world). Don't let anyone twist their words to mislead you.
The Lakers are not even close to making their head coaching hire yet, and anyone who pretends they are is just trying to stir up drama.
Lakers Next Head Coach Odds
Of course, this doesn't mean there's not a market for trying to predict these things. DraftKings Sportsbook has a market with odds on 21 different names to be the Lakers' next head coach. Some of them (Pau Gasol at +20000) seem more like a joke than anything, but a look at some of hte more realistic names paints a picture of where the public thinks things stand right now. Here are the top six candidates, according to the odds:
- JJ Redick (-210)
- James Borrego (+400)
- Sam Cassell (+800)
- Kenny Atkinson (+1200)
- Micah Nori (+1200)
- Chris Quinn (+1500)
So the clear perception is that Redick is a massive favorite (with an implied probability of 66.7%), but any of those top six names could have a real shot at the job.
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