Another popular Lakers head coach candidate gets taken off the board

The expectations are always high for the Los Angeles Lakers, especially with LeBron James on the roster. After getting eliminated in the first round by the Denver Nuggets and with how they played to close out the season, the Lakers fired head coach Darvin Ham. Now, they are looking to find the right head coach to lead the team in James' last year with the team.

Upon Ham's firing, various reports listed some names the team could target. One option was Ty Lue, James' former coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But that was ruled to be unlikely by ESPN senior NBA insider Wojnarowski, who says the Clippers are aiming to make it to sign Lue to a contract extension.

While Lue appears to be off the board, one candidate is officially off the table for the Lakers.

On Monday, the Dallas Mavericks officially announced that they signed head coach Jason Kidd to a multi-year contract extension.

Lakers coaching candidate Jason Kidd re-signed by Mavericks

Kidd's name was brought up by NBA correspondent Marc Stein ($), who said he would be a candidate if he were to be made available. But Stein said that it's unlikely that Kidd would be an option for the Lakers, with the expectation the Mavericks would keep him on a contract extension. Stein closed out his reporting by saying he was told the Lakers were not expecting Kidd to be a free agent.

The former NBA point guard did have history with the Lakers, serving as an assistant coach from 2019 until 2021 under Frank Vogel. In 2020, Kidd and the Lakers won an NBA Championship.

Realistically, Kidd wasn't going to be an option, considering the Mavericks' season is still alive. The Mavericks beat the Clippers in six games in the opening round of the playoffs, and are now set to take on the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round.

Kidd was hired by the Mavericks to be their head coach in 2021. In his first season, Kidd led the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals, where they ultimately lost in five games to the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors. After missing the playoffs last season, Kidd is looking to bring Dallas back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011.

In three seasons with the team, Kidd has a 140-106 regular-season record, and a 13-11 playoff record as of this writing (before start of Thunder second-round series).

The Lakers knew the chances of Kidd being available in free agency was slim, but now they can officially cross his name of their head coaching wish list.