The Los Angeles Lakers are making a list of potential coaching candidates and beginning to reach out to these options to fill their current head coaching vacancy.
Los Angeles has reportedly added Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams to their current short list, but they also have eyes on a name that is familiar to LeBron James and Lakers fans.
Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes reports that the Lakers are expected to meet with former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue next week.
Yahoo Sources: The Lakers have reached out to Tyronn Lue regarding their head coach position and are expected to meet at some point next week.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 13, 2019
Lue won two championships with the Lakers as a player in 2000 and 2001, although his most infamous moment as a player came in the 2001 team’s only loss in their dominant playoff run after Allen Iverson hit a jumper and then stepped over Lue. The Lakers, of course, went on to win the next four games to win the series in five.
As a head coach, Lue took over the Cavaliers job after the team fired David Blatt in 2016. Later that season, the Cavs captured their first NBA championship after the Golden State Warriors became the first team to ever blow a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals with the first ever unanimous regular season Most Valuable Player award winner in Stephen Curry.
Lue obviously has history with James because of their Cleveland days and if the Lakers hired him, it would seemingly be a move that James would certainly sign off on. Whether Lue is the best candidate out there is up for discussion, but keeping your star player happy is might not be a bad thing.
Lue is just the second name to surface on the Lakers’ radar, and plenty more are expected to come.
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