Lakers handling of Frank Vogel is already hurting their coaching search

The Los Angeles Lakers have parted ways with Frank Vogel but the way he was fired could come back to bite them.

The Los Angeles Lakers season has been heavily criticized and sadly, the brunt of that criticism has been thrown at now-former head coach Frank Vogel. Despite analysts saying all the blame should not be placed on Vogel and that LeBron James and Russell Westbrook are partly to blame for the disaster of a season, Vogel was still fired as head coach.

The firing of Vogel was bound to happen. But the way the team and front office went about firing him could lead to future problems.

Particularly, it seems as if the manner in which the firing transpired could be a hindrance in the team’s coaching search to replace Vogel.

How Frank Vogel’s departure could prove to be a problem for the Lakers

On April 11, NBA Insider, Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Vogel had been fired from his position as head coach of the Lakers.

Vogel, however was unaware of being fired. He was told the news in his post-game interview, following LA’s 146-141 win in the regular-season finale against the Denver Nuggets.

The way the Lakers handled Vogel’s firing has been criticized by the media. ESPN’s Richard Jefferson called the Lakers cowards, via Fox Sports.

"“But let’s talk about how cowardice it is. Woj [Adrian Wojnarowski] tweeted one minute after the game that Frank Vogel was fired, and then you want to sit here and talk about trust and this and that. 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.”"

Bill Oram of The Athletic also stated the organization should be embarrassed and potential candidates should take notice of the way Vogel was treated.

One potential candidate who has taken notice and may no longer be an option for the Lakers is Jazz head coach, Quin Snyder. According to LA Times‘ Broderick Taylor, Snyder has become less interested in the head coach position because of the way Vogel was fired, via the NY Post.

More potential candidates could follow Snyder and decide they no longer want to be considered for the position. If that happens, the Lakers will have a very limited pool to choose from. And they will have no one to blame but themselves.