Lakers News: LA Knows It 'Screwed Up' By Not Adding Champion Coach

The Lakers are aware they missed a golden opportunity a few hiring cycles ago.

Mar 7, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, Vanessa Bryant and majority owner Jeanie Buss attend the jersey retirement of former player Pau Gasol during halftime at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers still see a former L.A. player as the one that got away, apparently.

Negotiations with All-Star forward LeBron James' former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue, who led the Cavs to the 2016 championship, broke down in the summer of 2019. Los Angeles only wanted to pay him a three-year, $18 million deal, a major downgrade from his previous five-year, $35 million agreement with Cleveland at the time, and wanted control over his bench hires, specifically mandating that Jason Kidd be brought on, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.

Prior to his coaching days, Lue was a journeyman backup point guard. He was selected with the No. 23 pick in the 1998 draft out of Nebraska, and saw his draft rights shipped out from the Denver Nuggets, along with Tony Battie, to the Lakers for All-Star point guard Nick Van Exel. Lue played in Los Angeles until 2001, claiming two titles during the club's halcyon Shaquille O'Neal/Kobe Bryant era.

Lue hadn't even been the Lakers' first choice in the summer of 2019— that was Monty Williams, who ultimately signed on with the Phoenix Suns, brought that team to the NBA Finals, alienated himself from maximum-salaried center Deandre Ayton, saw the team's chemistry crumble, signed a crazy deal with the Detroit Pistons, and earned $13.1 million this year while guiding the Pistons to a 14-68 record.

Once Williams passed on the gig and talks with Lue broke down (Lue pivoted to being Doc Rivers' assistant on the rival L.A. Clippers, and eventually took over for Rivers in 2020), the Lakers pivoted to Frank Vogel, mandated the Kidd hire, and instantly won a championship. After underperforming in 2020-21 (following a pandemic-shortened offseason), the Lakers panicked, offloading major championship equity for an ill-fitting, past-his-prime Russell Westbrook and surrounding its new Westbrook/James/Anthony Davis core with decrepit veterans. The team tanked immediately, ultimately finishing with a 33-49 record. Vogel was fired, the sacrificial lamb of team president Rob Pelinka's transactional hubris.

Per Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily, Los Angeles even now regrets passing over Lue. Despite, you know, winning immediately with Vogel. The Lakers are now seeking their third head coach in the last four seasons.

“If Lue was available, it’d be done already,” a source close informed Irwin. “They know they screwed that up a few years ago and would like to remedy that mistake. Problem is, the Clippers know the Lakers want Lue. So, on top of him being a good coach, [Steve] Ballmer doesn’t want to help the Lakers get better.”

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