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The Lakers are getting closer to deciding on their next head coach. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Los Angeles has chosen Kenny Atkinson, Terry Stotts and Darvin Ham as the three finalists for this position.
Charania reports the Lakers will interview all three finalists in Los Angeles a second time.
Stotts has the most head coaching experience among these three, having spent time as a head coach for three separate organizations. Most recently, Stotts spent nine seasons as the Trail Blazers head coach, leading Portland to 402 total wins, eight playoff appearances and a Western Conference finals appearance in 2019.
Atkinson was a head coach for one other team, the Nets from 2016 to ’20. While he lost more games than he won in Brooklyn, and was let go in the middle of a season, he did lead the Nets back to the playoffs in ’19 after a rebuild. Atkinson is currently an assistant coach for the Warriors and also spent last year as an assistant coach for the Clippers.
While the other finalists have previous head coaching experience, Ham doesn’t. The former NBA player has spent the last 11 years as an assistant coach, first with the Lakers, then Hawks and now the Bucks.
All three of these finalists are also finalists for the Hornets head coaching job, having already interviewed twice for Charlotte.
The Lakers fired Frank Vogel in April after three years with the team, including an NBA championship in 2020. Their next head coach will be their third in five years since acquiring LeBron James in free agency.
