Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Los Angeles Lakers have been targeting Dan Hurley for their head coaching vacancy all along, but Skip Bayless doesn’t buy it.
For weeks, The Athletic’s Shams Charania has led the charge in reporting ESPN’s JJ Redick was the frontrunner for the Lakers head coaching vacancy. But Thursday morning, Wojnarowski dropped a patented Woj bomb by reporting it’s Hurley who is the apple of the Lakers’ eye, not Redick, and it’s always been Hurley.
Wojnarowski went so far as to claim everyone other than Hurley has just been a “due diligence” interview for the Lakers. That would seemingly include his ESPN colleague JJ Redick.
If Wojnarowski is correct, how did Charania miscalculate Redick’s candidacy this badly? Thursday morning on FS1’s Undisputed, Bayless didn’t question the Lakers’ interest in Hurley. But he did question Wojnarowski making it seem like they were never interested in Redick.
“This does not pass the smell test for me.”@RealSkipBayless on the Lakers reportedly preparing a long-term offer to UConn HC Dan Hurley pic.twitter.com/NWWOuwCL7T
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) June 6, 2024
“This does not pass the smell test for me, because all the gambling sites have reported for at least two weeks that JJ Redick is a done deal…Why would you go through multiple interviews with JJ Redick and then [James] Borrego and then Sam Cassell and then [David] Adelman? Bayless asked. “They sat down with all these…reportedly. I wasn’t there, but reportedly multiples with a couple of them and at least one with the others.”
“Woj is reporting that the primary focus, the target from day one was Dan Hurley. I just find that a little hard to believe,” Bayless continued. “The Athletic, they’re really good at what they do. They’ve just been flat out reporting, ‘It’s a done deal because they see the next Pat Riley.’ I’ve read it for two weeks now.”
Despite Wojnarowski reporting the Lakers were pursuing Hurley from the start, Paul Pierce surmised Redick may have ultimately decided he didn’t want the job, and Bayless agreed.
“They could have talked and talked and talked it into oblivion,” Bayless alleged. “Where he finally just said, ‘You know what? There are too many strings attached, you’ve got too many inter-office politics…’ and maybe JJ finally said, ‘You know what? I got a really good gig, I’m really enjoying my podcast, my television, and why would I inflict this upon myself?’ It’s highly possible.”
The weird part about Wojnarowski reporting the Lakers have been “obsessed” with Hurley throughout this entire process is the fact that they haven’t even formally interviewed the UConn men’s basketball coach. “The Lakers have had preliminary contact with Hurley and the sides are planning to escalate discussions in the coming days,” Wojnarowski wrote in his ESPN report.
The Lakers have not interviewed Hurley and their multiple interviews with Redick were just due diligence? That seems strange. Maybe Bayless is right. Maybe Redick is backing out or maybe negotiations have stalled.
Redick probably came with a massive asking price considering all of the media gigs he would have to forfeit to focus on being an NBA head coach. An asking price for an aspiring rookie head coach that might make the Lakers attempt to show they have other options.
