The Los Angeles Lakers have a big decision to make after firing Darvin Ham. Many believe their next hire could make a huge impact on LeBron Jamesā decision about his future, but it seems that The King wants to stay away from the coaching search.
According to NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN, who has followed LeBron throughout his entire career, the 39-year-old prefers not to have a say on these kinds of decisions and this time wouldnāt be the exception.
āLeBron doesnāt get involved in coaching hires, for years for many many coaches heās always taken a distance,ā said Windhorst in an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, via ClutchPoints. āIn fact, and I canāt say this for every candidate, but he generally has a rule that he wonāt engage with the candidate.ā
LeBron Jamesā future at Lakers may not be related to coaching search
Speculation about the Lakers potentially trying to please James with their next coach is related to the playerās uncertain future. The veteran star has until June 29 to opt into or decline a player option for the 2024-25 NBA season, but James doesnāt rule out retiring from the game. In the meantime, he reportedly wonāt get involved on who should replace Ham.
LeBron James carries the ball during a Lakers game.
āAfter the coach has been hired of course heāll have a conversation with the coach generally he wants to stay out of it, he doesnāt want it on his hands,ā Windhorst added. āI know thereās this belief that LeBron hires and fires all these coaches, and maybe he does like hurt coaches because he sort of kills them with a thousand paper cuts. But LeBron is very sensitive to that, and he does not want to be involved in that. So itās not going to be like heās going to go into Rob Pelinka and say hey Iām having a great time with JJ you should hire him thatās just not reality.ā
see also
Former teammate begs LeBron James to retire
All the coaches LeBron James has played for so far
LeBron has so far worked with nine coaches throughout his NBA career. In LA, Ham was Jamesā third boss. Before that, he played under Luke Walton and Frank Vogel (won the 2020 NBA championship) for the purple and gold.
- Paul Silas (2003-05)
- Brendan Malone (2005) ā interim
- Mike Brown (2005-10)
- Erik Spoelstra (2010-14)
- David Blatt (2014-16)
- Tyronn Lue (2016-18)
- Luke Walton (2018-19)
- Frank Vogel (2019-22)
- Darvin Ham (2022-24)
Word on the street is that the Lakersā priority target is Tyronn Lue, who won the 2016 NBA championship with James in Cleveland and has been praised by LeBron on several occasions. However, Lue said heās happy with the Clippers, who have him under contract for next season and are reportedly planning to offer him an extension.
