Lakers News: Bill Simmons, Ryen Russillo Advocate for Differing Head Coach Hires

Considering that they fired the third head coach of LeBron James' six-year tenure with the team last month in Darvin Ham, the Los Angeles Lakers have been surprisingly under the radar since being eliminated by the Denver Nuggets this postseason.

Most of the Lakers-centric chatter has circulated around Bronny James' potential future with the club (and, perhaps, his dad's, though it seems more likely than not that, even if he does decline his current $51.4 million player option for 2024-25, that LeBron will return to the team one way or another). The coaching quest has felt like a bit of an afterthought, in part because it's become pretty obvious that the head coach is not the issue: the talent is. This Los Angeles club is just a tier below bigger, younger teams in the Western Conference like the Nuggets and the team that just beat the Nuggets in the second round, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That hasn't stopped The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo from picking their favorite hiring choices from the assistant coaching pool. Most recently, on Sunday's edition of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons rooted for Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori, who's operating as injured head coach Chris Finch's legs as he roams the sidelines. They've brought the Timberwolves to their second-ever Western Conference Finals appearance, and their first in 20 years (the first time they lost to, you guessed it, the Lakers).

"Why wouldn't the Lakers want Micah Nori as their coach?" Simmons wondered.

"They're just gonna want more sex appeal post-[Frank] Vogel and Ham," Russillo opined. "I mean I think it should be [New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach] Borrego, but I don't think it's gonna be 'sexy' enough for them."

"Look I'm a huge Borrego fan, I've had him on the pod a couple times," Russillo said. "For anyone that watched some of those Charlotte [Hornets] teams that were terrible... and there are just all these Charlotte games [where] I'm like, 'How are they in this game?'"

Beyond Nori and Borrego, Los Angeles is allegedly considering JJ Redick, Denver Nuggets assistant coach David Adelman, Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell, Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, and Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney.

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