Dan Hurley made his thoughts crystal clear about a potential move to the NBA. The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team coach developed one of the most dominant teams in college basketball in recent years, taking the Huskies to back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024.
After that second consecutive title, the Los Angeles Lakers listed Hurley as a potential candidate to replace Darvin Ham and take the California team to the top of the NBA again.
Hurley declined the option and stayed with the Huskies, which led the Lakers to bring in JJ Redick to Crypto.com Arena. While the Lakers’ option was off the table, Hurley could also become a candidate to coach the New York Knicks after they fired Tom Thibodeau.
Dan Hurley on whether he’s considered joining the NBA
During a Thursday appearance on “Inside College Basketball Now,” Hurley told Jon Rothstein that he never considered the Knicks head coaching vacancy.
Head coach Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies.
“No, not even a small part of me (thought about it),” Hurley said. “I think, when you’re coming off the year that we had, I think, you know, every thought – and it’s hard to turn off, I think, you know, for most of us, you know, that are coaching at the level, you know, that I’m coaching at at this level of sport?”
“I don’t think – your mind very rarely drifts from your team, your program, your players, where things are headed, especially when you’re coming off of, you know, a season like we had had, you know. So, that – yeah, that was never even a thought, really,” he added.
The Huskies will enter a new season after losing to the Florida Gators in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
