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The Los Angeles Lakers season was barely a few minutes over before it leaked that head coach Frank Vogel would be fired, well before he was informed of the decision. It wasn’t a great look for a franchise that had just finished a disastrous 33-49 in the 2021-22 season and didn’t so much as qualify for the play-in tournament.
And it was indicative of a franchise that reportedly is earning itself a poor image in coaching circles.
According to Dan Woike and Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, “Those with knowledge of coaching situations around the league say the Lakers’ reputation isn’t good—concerns about meddling, too many voices, suspect contracts and obvious roster problems creating an equation that has them working from behind.”
“Is the Lakers’ job that attractive?” a coaching agent added. “I’m not so sure it is. But someone will take the job.”
Per that report, the Lakers are expected to have a number of current head coaches (the Utah Jazz’s Quin Snyder, Philadelphia 76ers’ Doc Rivers and Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse) and a collection of available former head coaches or assistants (Terry Stotts, Scott Brooks, Mike Brown and Alex Jensen) as potential candidates for their head-coaching vacancy.
The $47 million elephant in the room, of course, is that the Lakers have found themselves in their current predicament because of poor roster construction more than anything else. Russell Westbrook proved to be a horrible fit with this team, and his massive player option for the 2022-23 season will make him hard to move.
But the Lakers surrounded LeBron James and Anthony Davis with an old roster that didn’t play particularly stout defense and didn’t space the floor well. While injuries to those players were a major impediment this season, the Lakers were only 11-11 when both played and were outscored by 2.5 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.
Most coaching vacancies this offseason won’t have a starting base of LeBron and AD. But most franchises don’t have the spotlight, pressure or yearly drama that the Lakers seem to specialize in.
Further, the handling of Vogel’s firing didn’t play well publicly for the team:
NBA on TNT @NBAonTNT
“They’ve scapegoated Frank and Russ all year.”
Chuck reacts to reports that Frank Vogel has coached his final game with the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/fJax7p13H5
NBA on ESPN @ESPNNBA
“Woj tweeted one minute after the game that Frank Vogel was fired. … The Lakers didn’t even have the decency to inform the coach that won them a championship 18 months ago, that they were going to let him go. … The Laker organization is in utter disarray.”
Dan Patrick Show @dpshow
“It is absolutely embarrassing and bush league what the #Lakers have done to Frank Vogel… There’s other people that should be held accountable for putting this crappy roster together.” –@ReggieMillerTNT
For Reggie’s full appearance: https://t.co/NsZSz7x69C pic.twitter.com/iizbNyfN2h
Still, general manager Rob Pelinka is portraying an air of confidence about finding a new head coach.
“The Lakers franchise is one of the most respected in all of sports across the globe and I think that will remain to be the case,” he said. “And we’ll put the work behind it to make sure that’s the case. Because again, that’s what our fans expect.”
But if the Lakers don’t find the right person for the job—and don’t find a way to clean up the roster around James and Davis—it will be Pelinka on the chopping block next.
