Lakers' Dan Hurley detour could cost them their leading head coach candidate

The Lakers seemingly spent all of their energy on a failed bid to hire UConn head coach Dan Hurley to the same position in L.A. and are facing the consequences for the lack of a true backup plan.

According to Chris Fedor of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, James Borrego "has been viewed as the leader in the clubhouse regarding Cleveland's search to fill their head-coaching vacancy."

The Cavaliers are looking to replace J. B. Bickerstaff after firing the coach in the wake of a second-round series loss to the Celtics. On the other hand, L.A. is trying to hire a new leader after the two-year coaching disaster that was Darvin Ham's tenure with the Lakers. Cleveland is still open to other coaching candidates, but Borrego has been able to make himself one of the final contenders for the position.

Fedor also reported that Kenny Atkinson has advanced to this stage of the process as well with the other three candidates unknown at this time. As a whole, it's clear that the Lakers wasted precious time with their failed pursuit of Hurley.

Lakers' Hurley-size detour has caused them to miss out on other head coach candidates

As a whole, this entire coaching search for the Lakers has been a complete failure. Risking valuable time to chase a high-profile coach in Hurley is fine if you are willing to offer the coach the giant offer that they reportedly made but the franchise lowballed the back-to-back title-winning coach only going as high as $70 million over six years.

After wasting a lot of time not offering game-changing money to a great coach, the Lakers are now stuck without any reported plan B. Yes, L.A. plans to interview J.J. Redick but the head coach has zero experience outside of youth basketball. The former Clipper has proven himself to have an excellent basketball mind but it's hard to see a world where he doesn't have some growing pains in his first two years.

The Lakers, who are presumably looking to win a title next season likely need a coach who is more experienced and capable of putting the right veterans in the proper spots of the rotation. It's fair to say that this whole ordeal is another reason why the Lakers should part ways with Rob Pelinka as general manager.