Sources: Lakers making ready huge provide to Hurley

The Los Angeles Lakers are focusing on UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley because the franchise’s next coach and are making ready an enormous, prolonged-term contract provide to elevate the assist-to-relief NCAA national champion to the NBA, sources told ESPN.

The Lakers hang had preliminary contact with Hurley and the perimeters are planning to escalate discussions within the arrival days, sources told ESPN. Hurley has been on the forefront of the Lakers’ search from the starting of the job, even whereas the group has done its due diligence interviewing several different candidates, sources acknowledged.

Lakers vp of basketball operations and total supervisor Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss are appealing to formally take a look at with Hurley their imaginative and prescient of marrying his dominant program — constructed upon his tactical acumen and his elite participant pattern — with the storied Lakers imprint, sources acknowledged.

Hurley, 51, has in total described his ambition to one day coach within the NBA and has expressed to the Lakers a wish to search out the rotund portray of a partnership with indubitably one of basketball’s winningest franchises, sources acknowledged.

Hurley told UConn gamers at practice Thursday that the Lakers had contacted him and that he used to be paying attention to what they’d to divulge, sources acknowledged.

The pursuit of Hurley comes on the 20th anniversary of the Lakers making an try to rent then-Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski to a file-breaking contract in 2004. Krzyzewski elected to stay with the Blue Devils, but the climate has dramatically modified in college athletics. The demands of NIL fundraising for non-vitality-football colleges equivalent to UConn are an especially relentless grind — and are anticipated to alter into even extra refined.

As for the Lakers’ stars, LeBron James has been impressed with Hurley’s refined offensive actions. Assuming James returns to L.A. in free agency, the probability of using the 55th make a selection in this month’s NBA draft on USC freshman guard Bronny James makes Hurley an even extra animated candidate. If that occurs, James will get a probability to play alongside with his son and the coolest thing about Hurley and his workers turning into to blame for Bronny’s pro pattern.

In a social media put up responding to a podcast interview with JJ Redick, James posted on X about Hurley: “He’s so DAMN GOOD!!! Together alongside with his workers. Immense ingenious with their [offense]. Like it.”

James has now not had any conversations with the Lakers about Hurley or Redick, or the coaching search customarily for that matter, a source conversant in the challenge told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin on Thursday. James, by his representatives, has made it constructive that the Lakers may aloof attain what is supreme for the group and that he is conscious and respectful that the Lakers hang to glean a resolution on a coach who will doubtless be with the crew beyond his playing career.

The Lakers were dedicated to making All-NBA forward Anthony Davis a predominant section of the dialog on the next head coach and hang to make certain he is aligned with how a up to date coach plans to characteristic him on offense and defense, sources acknowledged.

The Lakers hang had several interviews with different candidates, in conjunction with Unusual Orleans Pelicans assistant James Borrego, Redick, Boston Celtics assistant Sam Cassell and Denver Nuggets assistant David Adelman, sources acknowledged. The Lakers hang proceeded with conversations with different candidates over the previous few weeks, but the probability of landing Hurley has been the principle point of curiosity of the Lakers’ search, sources acknowledged.

Fragment of the attract of Hurley traces relief to the changing panorama of NBA roster building under the collective bargaining settlement. On fable of of the roster-building boundaries of the contemporary 2d apron, the capacity of enormous-market teams to construct contending rosters by trading a couple of draft picks and young gamers for a third huge title participant has largely been eliminated. Beyond the 17th make a selection in this month’s draft, the Lakers hang a young core of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie that administration believes can aloof point out even better development under Hurley’s coaching, sources acknowledged.

After traditionally dominant relief-to-relief national title seasons, Hurley has emerged as basically the most coveted coach within the game — and the probability of him leaving UConn and the Considerable East Convention for the Lakers has huge implications for varsity basketball and for the NBA. Hurley has constructed a juggernaut that has lapped the game — culminating with the NCAA’s first repeat champion in 17 years and a match efficiency that produced the supreme point differential in match history: 140 aspects.

The possibility of UConn winning a third straight title looms with the return of a preseason top-5 crew, but the Huskies did lose two lottery picks (center Donovan Clingan and guard Stephon Fortress) and a major-crew All-The US point guard (Tristen Newton) to the NBA draft.

The Lakers brushed aside coach Darvin Ham after a major-round exit within the Western Convention playoffs. Ham used to be 94-70 in two seasons — in conjunction with a trip to the Western Convention finals in 2023.

Hurley is 141-58 (.709) in six seasons because the UConn coach, and he holds an NCAA match file of 12 consecutive double-digit victories. A son of Naismith Hall of Reputation coach Bob Hurley Sr. — for whom Hurley conducted for at famed St. Anthony High Faculty of Jersey City, Unusual Jersey — Dan Hurley spent nine years as a high college coach at St. Benedict’s Prep before impulsively rebuilding college applications at Wagner and Rhode Island. His older brother, Bobby, is the pinnacle coach at Arizona Inform.