The Los Angeles Lakers are officially at the lowest they’ve been after their firing of head coach Frank Vogel. It’s a move that was needed to be made whether it was due to dynamics between the front office and the head coach or it was the decisions he made with the 2021-22 roster and its lineups. However, the way that the Lakers went about the firing was pretty despicable when considering the fact that Vogel has seemed well-liked throughout the organization (well by everyone except the front office and possibly Russell Westbrook) as well as the fact that he won a championship for the franchise less than 2 years ago.
Either way, the Lakers and Vogel have probably already moved on, with sights now set on who the next head coach of the franchise could be. We’ve already had a few names reported to possibly be in the running for the job, with current Jazz head coach Quin Snyder being one of the earliest and most interesting candidates.
However — as with any elite coach that may be connected to the job in coming months — would Snyder actually be interested in joining this franchise that seems so disorganized and dysfunctional? Who knows how Snyder feels about that, however, if the following recent report from the L.A. Times’ B.A. Turner is true, it seems that the team’s messy firing of Vogel has changed how much he is attracted to the empty position.
Snyder, who is known for having very good offensive sets and a solid defensive foundation, has led the Jazz to the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. He was an assistant with the Lakers while on the staff of coach Mike Brown in 2011-2012. Not only is Snyder under contract with the Jazz for at least one more season, people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said he has become less interested in the Lakers’ job because of how the Vogel firing was handled.
Who knows if the report is true. Maybe this is just Snyder’s team of possibly increasing contractual leverage for their candidate for when that will be needed in future negotiations. However, it probably is true given Turner’s reputation as a reporter as well as the fact that common sense exists and that common sense would tell you that nearly every single head coaching candidate should be deterred at least a little from the job even if it is for one of the most popular sports franchises in the world.
We’ll have to see if Snyder’s feelings about the role have changed enough that the rumors die without him even interviewing for the position, but either way, the report shows the possibility that the Lakers have hurt themselves even more than they already have this season.
