Lakers News: Was Dan Hurley Not Really LA's No. 1 Head Coach Candidate?

The Lakers' approach to their head coach opening.

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers made a run at making two-time reigning NCAA champion UConn head coach Dan Hurley their next head coach last week, but Hurley opted to stay at UConn. The news was a surprising turn after J.J. Reddick was initially reported to be the team's top candidate.

While the Lakers made a run at Hurley, NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Hurley was not the Lakers top head coaching candidate from the get-go, and that they had not been pursuing him the whole time. Rather, the Lakers had met with Reddick and James Breggo before the news of their interest in Hurley came out.

"My sources have said that J.J. Reddick has been the frontrunner for this job. James Breggo has also been among the leaders for this job as well," Charania said on FanDuel TV's Run it Back. "Last week on Wednesday they turned their attention to Dan Hurley. He was was not the #1 candidate to go and pursue from the start, but htey felt like there was an opening there for him … they threw what people around the league believe was a hail mary offer for him. At the end of the day, Dan Hurley chose not to leave. He chose to stay for $20M less at UConn.”

“[Dan Hurley] was not the #1 candidate to go and pursue from the start… At the end of the day - he chose to stay for $20M less at UConn”@ShamsCharania on the #Lakers head coaching search 👀 pic.twitter.com/WLYBVVQi6u

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) June 11, 2024

Regardless, Hurley rejected the offer to become the Lakers' next head coach to pursue a third national championship. While many were baffled to choose the job that would pay him $20 million less, Hurley will still be making tens of millions of dollars, and preferred to stay with UConn this time around.

As Charania also said, the Lakers are still in search of a head coach with only a few weeks left before the 2024 NBA Draft and free agency begins. The betting favorite is back to Reddick, but the official decision has yet to be made.

More Lakers: Major LA Decisionmakers Didn’t Know About Dan Hurley Pursuit