The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to offer their vacant head coaching position to Tyronn Lue, ESPN reported yesterday.
Not long after the Phoenix Suns announced they had hired Philadelphia 76ers assistant Monty Williams as their new head coach, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported via Twitter that “the Lakers are proceeding toward an offer to Ty Lue in the coming days.” Williams was a candidate for the Lakers’ job.
Lue coached Lakers forward LeBron James at Cleveland, with the Cavaliers winning the title in the 2015-16 season when Lue took over for David Blatt midway through the schedule. The Cavaliers were defeated in the NBA Finals each of the next two seasons by the Golden State Warriors with Lue as head coach.
With James moving to the Lakers last offseason, Lue was fired six games into the 2018-19 season when the Cavaliers got off to an 0-6 start. With the Lakers, Lue would replace Luke Walton, who was fired after three seasons with the team.
Walton’s Lakers teams never won more than 37 games. The Lakers have not advanced to the playoffs since losing in the first round in the 2012-13 season.
Lue, 42, was 211-128 as head coach with the Cavaliers, as Cleveland won 82 games in each of his two full seasons with the organization. He played 10 seasons in the NBA out of Nebraska, scoring 8.5 points per game with 3.1 assists, mostly off the bench.
Lue’s first three NBA seasons were with the Lakers, scoring 4.1 points with 1.4 rebounds in 61 games with the team.
—Field Level Media
