The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly targeting UConn’s Dan Hurley as a candidate for their head coaching vacancy, according to ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
“The Los Angeles Lakers are targeting Connecticut’s Dan Hurley to become the franchise’s next coach and are preparing a massive, long-term contract offer to bring the back-to-back national champion to the NBA, sources tell ESPN,” Wojnarowski posted to X Thursday morning.
Hurley, who’s been working with UConn on a new contract since leading the program to a second consecutive national title this spring, turned down a reported pursuit from Kentucky after the departure of John Calipari this offseason. Now one of the most coveted coaches in the sport, Hurley said after UConn’s April 13 championship parade that he has “no desire to coach college basketball anywhere else.”
“Maybe down the road, you hope you can mature enough emotionally to, much later in my career, try to take a shot at the NBA – down the road, way down the road – but I’m not gonna coach anywhere else in college,” he added that day.
The Lakers, who dismissed second-year head coach Darvin Ham after their first round exit in the Western Conference playoffs, are hoping to shorten that road with a “massive, long-term contract offer,” according to Wojnarowski’s report.
There are at least six NBA coaches who are paid more than $10 million per year, according to USA Today. Steve Kerr, the four-time champion leading the Golden State Warriors, recently became the NBA’s highest-paid coach at $17.5 million annually. He is followed by legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ($16 million) and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra ($15 million).
It is unknown what “massive” might mean in Hurley’s context, but in Los Angeles it could rival what Kansas’ Bill Self gets as the highest-paid coach in college basketball ($9.63 million annually). The salary floor for NBA head coaches is in the $4 million range – 19 college coaches, according to USA Today’s database, made at least that much during the 2023-24 season.
Hurley signed a six-year deal with UConn for $32.1 million, about $5 million per year plus incentives (similar to the $5 million salary Ham was paid by the Lakers, according to the Athletic), following the 2023 national championship, and was the seventh-highest-paid coach in college this past season, the USA Today database shows. That contract, which made Hurley the state’s highest-paid employee, is expected to be ripped up after Hurley led the Huskies to a second-consecutive title in April.
Dan Hurley met with his players at UConn this morning and informed them he's been in talks with the Lakers, a source tells Fox Sports. Hurley didn't want to hide the fact that this is real. Huskies have a noon practice and Hurley told his players it's business as usual for now.
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) June 6, 2024
“The Lakers have had preliminary contact with Hurley and the sides are planning to escalate discussions in the coming days, sources told ESPN. Hurley has been at the forefront of the Lakers’ search from the beginning of the process, even while the organization has done its due diligence interviewing several other candidates, sources said,” Wojnarowski reported.
Shams Charania, an NBA insider for The Athletic, reported Tuesday that the Lakers were “zeroing in” on ESPN analyst JJ Redick, who had a 15-year NBA career, as the front-runner for the job.
According to Charania, the Lakers’ search “has been seriously focused on” Redick and James Borrego, the associate head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, over the last couple of weeks. Current NBA assistants Sam Cassell (Boston Celtics), Chris Quinn (Miami Heat), Micah Nori (Minnesota Timberwolves) and David Adelman (Denver Nuggets) have also interviewed for the opening, according to both ESPN and The Athletic.
“Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss are eager to formally discuss with Hurley their vision of marrying his dominant program – built upon both his tactical acumen and elite player development – with the storied Lakers brand, sources said,” according to Wojnarowski’s report, which noted that Hurley “has expressed to the Lakers a desire to explore the full picture of a partnership with one of basketball’s winningest franchises, sources said.”
Lakers superstar LeBron James has expressed his fondness for Hurley and his style in recent months. After Hurley appeared on JJ Redick’s podcast, ‘The Old Man and the Three,’ and discussed where he gets some of his offensive concepts, James posted on X, “He’s so DAMN GOOD!!! Along with his staff. Super creative with their O! Love it.”
He’s so DAMN GOOD!!! Along with his staff. Super creative with their O! Love it
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 19, 2024
Hurley was asked about his potential new contract on Wednesday night after he spoke on a panel alongside legendary UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma at the UConn Coaches Road Show in Stamford, and said “it’s complicated.”
“There’s a business side of it which you allow your agent to advise you on… I’m not a businessman, I’m not good at that, I’m a one-trick pony. It’s probably taken more time than I think any of us would’ve liked, but it’s not something that’s ever been a rush for me,” he said. “When you’ve won back-to-back championships, you’re not calling your agent worried about the status of your contract. You’re more worried about recruiting, scheduling.
“You sacrifice a lot to do this job, it’s a high-pressure job… It’s a total commitment, a lot suffers because of it – your family, any chance at any type of a social life, it consumes everything that you have and there’s a price you pay for it. And you also have a market as a coach when you’ve accomplished a lot of things. Trying to find that sweet spot is something.”
As fast as he started talking about a three-peat, Hurley got busy in recruiting and scheduling, reloading a roster that is set to lose four of five starters using the transfer portal and landing one of the program’s top all-time high school recruits in Liam McNeeley.
Hurley was also “ecstatic” after Alex Karaban – who he said Wednesday could have an “All-American, Big East Player of the Year” type of season – made his decision to return for a chance at the three-peat, withdrawing from the NBA Draft just a week earlier.
The Huskies, 68-11 over the last two historic seasons, will enter 2024-25 as one of the top five teams in the nation, should Hurley decide to stay.
“We wholeheartedly believe that we’re right where we want to be where we’re going to be one of the best teams again. We’re very, very confident,” he said Wednesday night, about 12 hours before the Lakers reports came out. “If I didn’t think we were that good, I wouldn’t necessarily sound like this.”
Hurley met with his players Thursday morning and informed them that he has been in talks with the Lakers, FOX Sports’ John Fanta reported Thursday afternoon. “Hurley didn’t want to hide the fact that this is real. Huskies have a noon practice and Hurley told his players it’s business as usual for now,” Fanta posted on X.
