The Los Angeles Lakers officially parted techniques with head coach Darvin Ham on Friday, and an “in depth” coaching lookup is established to begin. While Ty Lue and JJ Redick ended up known as possible targets ahead of Ham was even acquired the axe, we now know of two additional names included to the checklist.
A report from Jovan Buha and Shams Charania at The Athletic names former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and former Brooklyn Nets head guy Kenny Atkinson on the shortlist.
Budenholzer led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA championship in 2021 but was fired two seasons later just after failing to access those heights again. In five seasons with Milwaukee, Budenholzer went 271-120 (.693) and led the Bucks to five consecutive Central Division titles. He had blended playoff good results although, as they only arrived at the conference finals twice, and bowed out ahead of that level three instances. He was dismissed adhering to a initially spherical exit in 2023.
Before his time in Milwaukee, Budenholzer was head mentor of the Atlanta Hawks for 5 seasons, publishing a document of 213-197 (.520). He took them to the playoffs in 4 of his 5 seasons.
Budenholzer has received a championship and has taken his teams to the postseason in 9 of his 10 seasons as a head coach. He has 2 times been named NBA Coach of the Yr (2015 and 2019) and received four championships as an assistant underneath Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs. The 54-year-previous has a demonstrated monitor file of results, but his postseason final decision-producing has long been an situation.
Atkinson has been an assistant coach with the Golden Condition Warriors for the earlier 3 seasons, right after spending the 2020-21 campaign as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers. His only head coaching practical experience came with the Brooklyn Nets from 2016 to 2020 and he didn’t place up wonderful benefits while performing with a depleted roster.
The Nets went 118-190 (.383) in a few-additionally seasons under Atkinson. They built the postseason in 2019 with a 42-40 file but were bounced from the opening spherical of the playoffs in five video games by the Philadelphia 76ers. He stepped down as head coaching late in the 2019-20 period. Atkinson in fact recognized a offer to grow to be head coach of the Charlotte Hornets in 2022 soon after serving to the Warriors to an NBA title. He finally backed out and returned to the Warriors.
A ton of eyes will be on the Lakers’ coaching lookup. The end of LeBron James’ vocation is swiftly approaching. If the franchise needs to get him a ultimate shot at a championship, it will have to nail this hire.
