Lakers' Potential Ty Lue Pursuit Hitting Major Speed Bump

The Los Angeles Lakers made headlines this afternoon, when they fired not just two-year head coach Darvin Ham but also his entire coaching staff. The team will be building out its bench from the ground up.

Ham and his staff actually performed pretty competently, all things considered. Saddled with an ill-fitting roster weighed down by $59.3 in salary commitments to washed-up point guards Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley, Ham and co. started off awkwardly in 2022. But after team president Rob Pelinka shipped off Westbrook, Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn (plus Thomas Bryant, who had actually been pretty good) and re-aligned the roster and supplemented its solid remaining players with solid additions like D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba, L.A. turned it season around.

The Lakers improved to become the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, finishing with a 43-39 record. Los Angeles went on to advance all the way to the Western Conference Finals, though it got swept by Denver.

This year, with largely the same cast of characters (Gabe Vincent was subbed in for former backup point guard Dennis Schroder, Mo Bamba was replaced by Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes) augmented by the addition of forwards Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish (plus buyout market signing Spencer Dinwiddie, essentially a Vincent replacement), Los Angeles was again the No. 7 seed, this time with a better 47-35 record, due in part to a more competitive, younger West. The Lakers were again eliminated by Denver in the playoffs, only this time it happened in the first round. That apparently was the last straw for Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss.

Suddenly, one of the top coaches who had been floated as a potential future fit for LeBron James' Lakers could already be off the market soon.

L.A. Clippers head coach Ty Lue, who coached James to a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, has been floated as a potential candidate for the Lakers, according to Shams Charania, Jovan Buha and Jenna West of The Athletic.

Unfortunately, it appears that the Clippers are angling to ink Lue to a contract extension, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

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