Lakers News: Preferred Next Coach, Team for LeBron James

Will James be back with the Lakers next season?

With all the talk about Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham possibly being fired, it has brought up the thought of who would replace him. Ham has been with the team for two seasons but has come under fire this year for his failure to maximize the Los Angeles roster.

With the future of star LeBron James in doubt, it's thought that the Lakers may try to let him have more influence in who becomes the next coach if Ham is let go. According to NBA insider Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, James has a specific name in mind and it's a familiar one to him.

“If it was all up to LeBron, he’d have Ty Lue as his coach and he would do that with the Lakers,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “That’s his guy. Out of all the coaches LeBron has ever had, the one he singles out is Ty. Now he is in a position where he has free-agency on his side and he can maybe force the team to do something to get his guy if he gets fired.

Landing someone like Ty Lue won't be easy, especially because he is still under contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. However, there have been reports that the Clippers may look elsewhere after this season, giving Lue the chance to move to the other Los Angeles team.

If the Lakers were to get Lue, it would be a massive improvement for the team. He helped James win a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers and is seen as one of the better coaches in the NBA.

Lue is a mastermind at in-game adjustments, something that has plagued the Lakers the last few seasons. However, the Lakers have tried to land Lue before and it didn't pan out. 

Whether Lue would be open to coming to the Lakers is also a question that needs to be answered. But no matter what the team does this offseason, they need to nail the coaching hire this time to avoid wasting James's final years, assuming he returns this summer.

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