Lakers News: LeBron James Friend-Turned-Foe Supports Assistant Coach for LA Gig

James is quite familiar with this candidate.

Apr 27, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James dribbles against Denver Nuggets small forward Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. | Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers are set to hire the fourth head coach in 20-time All-Star LeBron James' soon-to-be-seven-year tenure — provided James sticks around. He has a $51.4 million player option for the 2024-25 NBA season, and could decline it to enter unrestricted free agency this summer. Even if he does, it's generally expected that he will return to L.A., in one form or another, for as much money as team owner Jeanie Buss and team president Rob Pelinka are willing to shell out.

Beyond making some critical roster revisions to a club that finished with a good-not-great 47-35 record and a disappointing five-game exit at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers' most pressing issue at this point is finding said new head coach, a replacement for two-year man Darvin Ham. The club is casting a wide net, and seems to generally be prioritizing a lot of elite assistant coaches, plus James' "Mind The Game" podcast cohost, JJ Redick.

An old teammate of James, former 20-year Miami Heat power forward Udonis Haslem, recently agitated for the Lakers to hire an old coach of James': longtime Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn.

Haslem recently made a guest appearance on ESPN, and made the case for Quinn, who's been with Miami for a decade, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“Now, is he a true, ‘true’ candidate?” Haslem wondered. “Who knows, because we understand how this goes, you might put names out there when you already know who you’re gonna pick, but I think Chris Quinn really has an opportunity to go into that situation, some Miami Heat culture, but also sprinkled in with what they’re doing now and what LeBron likes to do."

“I think Chris Quinn might have an opportunity to go in there, have the respect of LeBron James, have the respect of the locker room,” Haslem continued

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