Did UConn's Dan Hurley Just Play the Lakers?

Hurley, winner of two straight NCAA titles, is staying in Storrs.

Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley is pulled back by the referee during the Men's NCAA national championship game against the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on April 8, 2024. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY

Dan Hurley is going for that three-peat.

The University of Connecticut Huskies' men's basketball head coach, who has guided his program to its second consecutive NCAA title, turned down a reported six-season, $70 million offer from the Los Angeles Lakers to eventually guide that program into presumably an Anthony Davis-centric, post-LeBron James future.

So why did Hurley reject the opportunity to lead the NBA's glamor franchise?

"The Joe Pompliano Show" host Joe Pompliano posited an intriguing thesis on his X account that, frankly, makes a lot of sense:

It's almost like Dan Hurley leaked all of this through a trusted media source (who literally wrote a book on his dad) to secure himself an even bigger contract at UConn. Woj gets a big scoop, the Lakers get to say we tried, and Hurley gets a huge raise. Win. Win. Win. https://t.co/TYWvLS7c1J

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 10, 2024

Did Hurley leak the news about L.A.'s interest to Adrian Wojnarowski, who did indeed write a book in 2006 about his father Bob Hurley's tenure with St. Anthony, "The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty," in order to up his Huskies contract extension asking price?

UConn reportedly just offered him a contract projected to be worth "just" $50 million, per Zach Bachar of Bleacher Report. That sum is maybe not quite in Lakers territory but enough to make him one of the NCAA's best-compensated coaches.

The notion that the Lakers may also have been unserious about the Hurley offer is interesting. This writer is dubious of that, but it's true that offering him such a lucrative deal would be a bit uncharacteristic of the way Los Angeles has been operating of late. The team missed out on hiring both Monty Williams and Tyronn Lue in 2019 when both balked at the club's apparent lowball contract offers. After canning Frank Vogel (the Lakers' third choice after Williams and Lue), Los Angeles opted to sign former assistant coach Darvin Ham, who in taking his first head coaching gig was not going to command Hurley-esque money. Beyond JJ Redick, all of the Lakers' other reported head coaching candidates of late have been assistant coaches, all of whom would be fairly cost-effective hires.

More Lakers: Dan Hurley Spurns Los Angeles, Will Stay at UConn