The Los Angeles Lakers have begun their coaching search after the firing of head coach Darvin Ham earlier this month. And on Tuesday, it was revealed that an icon to the game of basketball will be aiding the organization as they look to land the right guy to be their next head coach.
Former Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski is arguably one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game at the collegiate level. After all, he has the most wins of any college coach ever with a grand total of 1,202 wins.
On Tuesday, it was reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic that Coach K will be “utilized” as an “unofficial resource” by the Lakers to help aid their coaching search.
This is interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, Coach K of course coached Lakers head coaching candidate J.J. Redick during his collegiate playing days. And the two still seem to be quite close even after all these years apart.
Coach K also has a relationship with both LeBron James and Anthony Davis from his time as head coach of USA Basketball. So he could very well have a good sense of what the two could be looking for in terms of their next head coach.
The likes of J.J. Redick, James Borrego, and Sam Cassell have already emerged as early candidates for the head coaching job. But you have to assume that after this news of bringing in Coach K to help with the search, that Redick may be the overwhelming favorite to land the job.
Only time will tell who ends up getting the job. But it can’t hurt to bring in a brilliant basketball mind like Krzyzewski into the fold to make the best decision possible on their next head coach.
[NY Times]
