LeBron Next Coach: 2 With Texas Ties Among Los Angeles Lakers Finalists

DALLAS - The Los Angeles Lakers have parted ways with Frank Vogel and now, per NBA insider Shams Charania, there are three finalists for the head coaching job - two with Texas ties.

Lakers

Stotts

Ham

The list: former Texas Tech star and now Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and former Dallas Mavs assistant and NBA head coach Terry Stotts.

Ham has previous ties to the Lakers organization as he was an assistant under former head coach Mike Brown from 2011 to 2013.

But Ham, 48, who starred at Tech in the mid-90s and played eight NBA seasons, is the only person on the list with no head coaching experience.

Atkinson, 54, was the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016 to 2020. He went 118-190 before resigning during the 2019-20 season.

Stotts, 64, was a Houston Rockets draft pick who never made it as a player but who found success as a head coach with Portland Trail Blazers in 2012. From 2013 to 2021, Stotts led Portland to the playoffs eight straight years, with a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2019.

Sources: Finalists for the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job: Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and former Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts. Next stage of interviews are expected to take place in-person in Los Angeles.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 20, 2022

The springboard to Stotts’ success? His turn as a top assistant on the Dallas Mavericks’ 2011 NBA title team.

The Lakers, despite the all-worldly presence of LeBron James, failed to make the NBA Playoffs this year. Nevertheless, the presence of James and the draw of the Lakers as an iconic brand on the biggest of stages makes this one of the most primo jobs in sports - but also one with great expectations.

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