Should the Lakers’ head coaching job be considered top-tier?

National Basketball Association

Updated Jun. 12, 2024 10:55 a.m. ET

No, the Los Angeles Lakers were not able to land Dan Hurley. No, there is no clear indication who the team will now target instead of Hurley. No, there is no guarantee that LeBron James will remain with the purple and gold next season.

And no, the Lakers’ head coaching job should not be considered an attractive one, according to Nick Wright. The “First Things First” co-host was brazenly critical about the job’s allure on Tuesday, breaking down his case in detail.

“It’s not a good job as long as Rob Pelinka’s there,” Wright said. There’s a long list of pros and a long list of cons [with the job]. … Its location, its history, which I do think is attractive to NBA players — LeBron James didn’t just pick Los Angeles, there are two teams there. He picked the Lakers, and the Lakers’ brand still means something similar to the New York Yankees’ brand and the Dallas Cowboys’ brand.

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But one of the biggest cons, Wright said, is the front office, specifically general manager and vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka.

“Why is the conversation about Rob Pelinka’s job not happening right now, today?” Wright asked. “If we take the Lakers ostensibly at their word, they’ve had a target, they’ve had six weeks since they fired their coach … they might end up being a man without a country because you couldn’t land your guy! … What is the evidence that we have that Rob Pelinka and this Lakers’ regime knows what they’re doing?”

The Lakers have had seven coaches in the past 11 years, getting just two years out of Darvin Ham and three years out of his predecessor, Frank Vogel.

Vogel won a championship in 2020, while Ham brought the Lakers to the Western Conference finals in 2023, before guiding them to the inaugural In-Season Tournament victory this past season.

For “Undisputed” contributor Rachel Nichols, the lack of job security the team has offered in recent years, plus the reported six-year, $70 million offer the squad sent Hurley’s way, were factors in Hurley’s decision to turn down the job.

“This was not a ‘Godfather’ offer,” she said Tuesday. “The coach of the Detroit Pistons would’ve made more money than him. And I think part of it is the Lakers weren’t looking at this the right way. Maybe they were looking at it as like ‘Hey, we’re taking a little bit of a chance, we don’t know how he’s gonna work out in the pros, this is what we think he’s worth.’ That’s not what it’s about. It’s not what Dan Hurley is worth money-wise, it’s about what he’s worth to you, and the Lakers needed this to work out.

“They fired a coach two years after winning a championship. They fired a coach one season removed after getting to the Western Conference finals. They’ve had seven coaches in the last 11 years. That is embarrassing, they needed to stop the bleeding, and they don’t have a lot of other options. The options they’re left with after blowing this is a guy [J.J. Redick] who’s never coached after AAU, and a guy [James Borrego] who is a lifetime assistant, who had one head coaching job, who then lost it with the Charlotte Hornets.”

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Colin Cowherd likened the situation to that of another historically prominent franchise — the Dallas Cowboys.

“These are the Lakers’ have-tos: ‘We have to sign 39-year-old LeBron James — 40 in December — to a three-year max contract, because he’s our only elite playmaker, and if Bronny’s available, we’ll have to draft him. That’s the current state of the Lakers,” Cowherd said Tuesday. “And now you have to settle for probably … your second, third or fourth choice as a head coach. Those are the Lakers’ realities.”

“They also have one of the poorest ownership groups, the second-largest front office in Los Angeles, pretty light on draft capital, and since [Anthony Davis] arrived, they’re in the cross-your-fingers business with AD and his health. Those are the realities of the Lakers. It’s a little bit like the Dallas Cowboys. The expectations are high, reality is low and the roster is always a little bit overvalued. … So Dan Hurley, in a sport that’s in transition, making half the money, said, ‘No thank you.’”