NBA Rumors: Lakers will not have head coach in place by July 1 free agency start
By Jack Crosby
The Los Angeles Lakers, despite coming off one of the worse seasons of anyone in the NBA, are in a pretty good place at the moment. They will be getting a healthy Kobe Bryant back this year, plus on Thursday night in the draft, they got Bryant some down-low help with their no. 7 overall selection in the form of Kentucky’s Julius Randle.
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Yes, everything is good in Laker land–well, except for the fact that they don’t have a head coach in place, and apparently, nor do they plan to by the time free agency starts on July 1, which could present a minor problem as they pursue the likes of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
Mitch Kupchak said that the Lakers won't have a coach by the start of FA Monday, but will sometime "probably in the beginning of July"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 27, 2014
As of just this past week, the word has been that Byron Scott is the front runner, although the talks between the two parties have not even gotten to the contract stage just yet.
Of course, Kobe could be enough to lure either James or Anthony –or both– to Los Angeles, but there’s also an even better chance that a coach not being in place could be the deal breaker.
“We’ll ‘probably’ have a head coach soon,” just might not cut it.