Report: Mike Budenholzer, Ty Lue, JJ Redick among early Lakers head coach candidates
After firing Darvin Ham as head coach on Friday, a number of names have surfaced as potential candidates, including Ty Lue, JJ Redick and Mike Budenholzer.
The Lakers have parted ways with Darvin Ham and now will embark on a very interesting head coach search. On top of it being the third time in five years they’re searching for a coach, it also is one without any clear options or top candidates, unlike previous years.
The names that will be linked to the position, then, will likely be vast. Numerous reports in the aftermath of Ham’s firing began listing names as potential candidates. A number of common ones certainly emerged as well.
Shams Charania of The Athletic was the first to report future names that will be considered with a lot of familiar faces among them.
The Los Angeles Lakers have parted ways with coach Darvin Ham, and sources tell me and @jovanbuha an extensive search will commence soon, with candidates such as Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson, JJ Redick and, if he becomes available, Ty Lue among others.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 3, 2024
Along with Jovan Buha, Charania went into some more detail on three names that have emerged early on.
Three candidates have emerged as early options, according to multiple team sources:
Mike Budenholzer, the former Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks head coach
Kenny Atkinson, currently a Golden State Warriors assistant coach and formerly the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
JJ Redick, the ESPN broadcaster and prolific analyst who, among other things, co-hosts a podcast with James.
LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue would immediately become another candidate if he’s fired by the Clippers after their potential first-round exit.
During the last coaching cycle, Atkinson was a finalist for the position, alongside Ham and Terry Stotts. The Lakers also have a history with Ty Lue, having reached the negotiation stage of the job prior to hiring Frank Vogel before talks derailed and Lue eventually landed across the hallway.
Mike Budenholzer is likely the most decorated coach on the market, having won a title with the Bucks. However, he is the mentor of Darvin Ham and there certainly would be the weird aspect of firing the student to hire the teacher.
JJ Redick will be the wildcard name on the list, but a name that keeps re-emerging. Redick is on ESPN’s lead NBA broadcast team and has received interviews elsewhere in the league. More relevant to the Lakers, he is a co-host on LeBron James’ podcast, so there is a relationship there.
ALong with those names, Dan Woike of the LA Times mentioned a pair of others in current assistants around the league.
The team interviewed former head coaches Kenny Atkinson and Terry Stotts during their last search before landing on Ham. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue nearly coached the Lakers before contractual disputes led to the Lakers hiring Vogel in 2019.
In addition to Atkinson and Stotts, Denver assistant coach David Adelman and Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori are both highly regarded inside the Lakers’ organization, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.
David Adelman is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Adelman. He’s been an assistant since 2011 with stops in Minnesota, Orlando and, most recently, Denver since 2017. As if there wasn’t enough drama between the Lakers and Nuggets as is, taking one of their assistants would certainly only add to it.
Nori has also been a lifelong assistant since 2009. He worked in Toronto, Sacramento, Denver, and Detroit before landing in Minnesota in 2021. Very recently, you may have seen him take over as head coach for the Wolves after Chris Finch was injured in Minnesota's Game 4 win against the Suns.
After just going down the road of a first-year coach and watching it not work, you would think there might be some trepidation to do it again. However, given the names linked, clearly the Lakers aren’t ruling it out entirely, at least early on.
Will any of these names be mentioned as the coach they choose? Right now, it really feels like anyone’s guess, which will certainly make for an interesting search.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.