The Los Angeles Lakers are inching closer to officially finding a replacement for Frank Vogel as head coach.
Vogel was fired following their final regular season game, and they currently have three main candidates: Darvin Ham, Terry Stotts and Kenny Atkinson.
Reportedly, the team has just interviewed Stotts.
Via Lakers Daily:
“The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly interviewed former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts for their head coaching position on Tuesday.”
Stotts coached the Blazers for nine seasons from 2013 to 2021. In all but the first of those campaigns, they made the playoffs, thanks largely to the immense skills of Damian Lillard.
Portland usually lost in the first round during that span, but in 2019, they made it to the Western Conference Finals.
ESPN Sources: The Lakers interviewed former Blazers coach Terry Stotts for franchise’s head coaching job in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Two more assistants will meet with LA in near future — Golden State’s Kenny Atkinson and Milwaukee’s Darvin Ham.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 25, 2022
Prior to being at the helm of the Blazers, Stotts had brief stints as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks before joining Rick Carlisle’s staff as an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks.
While there, Stotts helped the Mavs win the NBA championship in 2011.