They call superstar NBA player LeBron James the coach killer. Nobody in the history of basketball has ever been referred to as a player/general manager and any coach who takes on the job of coaching the three-time NBA champion should be cautious when considering the offer.
After the Los Angeles Lakers disastrous first year with James; they fired head coach Luke Walton, which makes him the third coach that’s been fired throughout the All-star’s career.
But the Lakers just made one move that will likely ship LeBron James out of Los Angeles for good.
The pinnacle moment in the Lakers season that epitomized how much of a dumpster fire the team became this year was when President of Basketball Operations, Magic Earvin Johnson, suddenly resigned right before the last game.
The successful entrepreneur said he was overwhelmed trying to run his “exploding” business and fixing the Lakers at the same time. He also admitted if he told Jeanie then she would’ve convinced him to stay because Magic couldn’t say no.
Several days later, the Lakers fired head coach Luke Walton.
So the Lakers were in the business of finding a new head coach. The frontrunner was former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue, who was one of the few coaches LeBron James shockingly didn’t get fired.
Two things happened that destroyed the offer; Lue wanted to hire his own staff but the Lakers insisted that former Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd would be second in command and the other was the nearly-offensive details of his contract offer.
The Lakers offered Lue a three-year contract, which means they would reevaluate his role on the team at the end of James’ three-year contract as well. Most NBA contracts are five-years, so it’s understandable Lue would scoff at that – after all, he’s an NBA championship winning head coach.
So the Lakers hired former Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel instead – same three-year deal. Aslo, Jason Kidd got an assistant coach role in this deal too.
Jason Kidd has agreed to join Vogel’s Lakers staff in a prominent assistant coaching role, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/ZrQRWfq1US
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 11, 2019
Under Vogel, the Lakers are unlikely to distinguish between a top assistant and the rest of the coaches. One Lakers source described it as “the Phil Jackson model” of assembling a staff. The influence of Jackson and Kurt Rambis weighs heavily in the Vogel hiring.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 11, 2019
It doesn’t take a genius to learn that James is probably not happy considering they’ve never worked together before and it makes one wonder whether LeBron James is in their immediate future.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith reported recently that many people close to Jeanie Buss are trying to convince her to trade LeBron James to set up the Lakers for the future considering his age.
And usually players of James’ status have no-trade clauses in their contracts but he doesn’t with the Lakers, which means they can pick up the phone and make a deal anytime they want.
Why would you want to include an all-star who has a good ten years ahead of him when you get only a few years out of LeBron. You’d have to be ready to win now and there are teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics who are in a win-now mode and LeBron James could be the final piece.
