Although it seems like a longshot right now, the Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly had lots of interest in hiring Doc Rivers to be their next head coach.
After being eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers have maintained that he will remain with them next season.
Lakers fans seem split on the prospect of Rivers coming to join the team.
On one hand, he is a very established coach who has two decades of experience and an NBA championship under his belt (which, ironically, came against the Lakers in 2008).
But one of the knocks against Rivers is that his teams have blown numerous series leads in the playoffs and lost several Game 7s.
Still, Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote an article arguing that Rivers would be the best candidate for the Lakers.
At one point in that article, Plaschke included an interesting piece of information about Rivers that wasn’t common knowledge.
Via Los Angeles Times:
“If both sides really want this to happen, it should happen. Though it seems like a long shot, it still could happen, because here’s guessing Rivers wants it to happen.
“In the past he’s always expressed his fondness for Los Angeles, and once nearly left the [Los Angeles] Clippers for the Lakers, and right now he is the perfect coach for this imperfect situation.”
It is unclear when Rivers nearly did what Plaschke claimed, as nothing of the sort was ever reported.
In the spring of 2019, there was a rumor that Rivers would leave the Clippers and join the Lakers because then-president of basketball operations Magic Johnson liked him, but the interest didn’t seem mutual.
Doc Rivers: "Let me end this. Magic Johnson & I are very close friends…but Steve Ballmer and I have a great relationship. He gave me an out, where I could opt-out this summer…early this year, let's end this thing, extend, make it a longer deal. I'm here. My job is not done."
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) March 20, 2019
A report indicated that although Rivers is not one of the reported final candidates the Lakers are considering, they are possibly still holding out hope that somehow, Rivers will become available a little bit later this offseason.
