Lakers targeting UConn’s Dan Hurley in coaching search, preparing ‘massive’ offer, per report

On the heels of back-to-back national championships at the University of Connecticut, Huskies coach Dan Hurley has emerged as a priority target for the Los Angeles Lakers as they prepare to make an offer to him to become their next head coach, according to ESPN. The Lakers are preparing a “massive, long-term contract offer” to Hurley and have had preliminary contact about the position already. Hurley’s camp and the Lakers are “planning to escalate discussions” in the near future, ESPN adds.

The Lakers fired Darvin Ham in May after just two seasons and JJ Redick — co-host of a podcast with Lakers star LeBron James, a broadcaster with ESPN and a long-time player first at Duke then in the NBA for nearly two decades — was believed to be the frontrunner for the position. However, Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Hurley has been the target throughout the process. From ESPN:

Hurley has been at the forefront of the Lakers’ search from the beginning of the process, even while the organization has done its due diligence interviewing several other candidates, sources said.

Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss are eager to formally discuss with Hurley their vision of marrying his dominant program — built upon both his tactical acumen and elite player development — with the storied Lakers brand, sources said.

Hurley, earlier this offseason, turned down overtures from the University of Kentucky, one of the best jobs in college basketball because of its history and resources, after the school and John Calipari went in separate directions. He later said he had no desire to coach college basketball anywhere else before adding that trying his hand at the NBA later in his career interests him. In an interview last year, he said that he still had some “developing to do on the sideline” before thinking of making the jump to the NBA, a reference to his…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-targeting-uconns-dan-hurley-in-coaching-search-preparing-massive-offer-per-report/

Author : Kyle Boone

Publish date : 2024-06-06 12:40:23

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