Lakers Biographer Advocates for Hiring Unorthodox Recent Champ As Head Coach

Should the Lakers look into this move?

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the hunt for a new head coach after the firing of Darvin Ham. The Athletic's Shams Charania and Jovan Buha have reported that the team's candidates for their next HC include Mike Budenholzer, J.J. Reddick, Kenny Atkinson, and Ty Lue at the moment.

The writer of Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, Jeff Pearlman, thinks the Lakers would be smart to consider another option — South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley.

Pearlman said after the Ham firing, "the Lakers should be reaching out to Dawn Staley ASAP."

The Lakers should be reaching out to Dawn Staley ASAP.

— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) May 3, 2024

Staley has become one of the most successful basketball coaches at the NCAA level. She has led the Gamecocks to three national championship titles, including one this year as the team went undefeated throughout the entire season. South Carolina has become a dynasty under Staley, with the team losing a total of three games over the last three seasons. She has an incredible .806 win percentage as South Carolina's coach and has won the Naismith Coach of the Year award four different times.

There has been no report yet on if the Lakers are considering Staley as a candidate, or if Staley is even interested in leaving South Carolina to coach in the NBA.

In the unlikely scenario that the Lakers were to end up hiring Staley, she would make history as the first woman to become a full-time NBA head coach. There have been multiple female NBA assistant coaches, and Becky Hammon even served as the acting head coach when Gregg Popovich was ejected from a 2020 San Antonio Spurs game against the Lakers. She has since gone on to become a WNBA head coach for the two-time reigning champion Las Vegas Aces.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said back in 2022 that he would like to see a female head coach in the NBA in the next five years. If Staley is interested, she definitely should garner some interest given her unprecedented success with South Carolina.

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