NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers suggest Mike D’Antoni could return in 2014-15
By Josh Hill
It’s been a rough season for the Los Angeles Lakers and head coach Mike D’Antoni has been looking like he’ll be the scapegoat when all is said and done. Despite having injuries ravage his roster, the consensus seems to be that D’Antoni will be gone at the end of the season and replaced in the summer.
Kobe Bryant coming out against the coach in very cryptic ways hasn’t helped, but he reeled that in the other day on the Dan Patrick Show and D’Antoni seemed to be defended by Mitch Kupchak today.
Per Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:
"“I don’t want to get into that with those kind of questions,”Kupchak said. “He’s done a great job and dealt with a year last year when he was here part-time and a ridiculous amount of injuries this year.”"
This can be interpreted a number of different ways, as Kupchak could just be trying to quiet the masses before dumping D’Antoni in the summer. It could also mean that the Lakers are understanding of the situation their coach is in and are willing to ride it out with him and see how he does with a healthy roster in 2014-15.
That’s not a guarantee that he’ll be back next season, but he’s also not been condemned yet either.