The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be focusing on three candidates to replace Frank Vogel in the team’s bench. More specifically, Terry Stotts, Kenny Atkinson and Darvin Ham are the three finalists for the Lakers vacancy, per Shams Charania.
The Lakers fired Frank Vogel from the post in April following a disappointing 33-49 season. The LA franchise conducted several interviews with candidates since then. It was reported that Mark Jackson and Bucks’ assistant Charles Lee were among the coaches to be interviewed.
Sources: Finalists for the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job: Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and former Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts. Next stage of interviews are expected to take place in-person in Los Angeles. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 20, 2022
Both Atkinson and Ham were among a host of candidates to interview for the head coach position with the Charlotte Hornets earlier this month. Atkinson was an assistant with the New York Knicks from 2008 to 2012, Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2016 and spent the last two seasons on the bench with Ty Lue’s Los Angeles Clippers and Steve Kerr’s Warriors.
Ham played for six teams during his eight-year NBA career between 1996 and 2005 and earned an NBA championship as part of the Detroit Pistons back in 2004. He did the same as a lead assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks last season. He has been an assistant coach with the Lakers (2011-2013), Hawks (2013-2018) and Bucks (2018-2022).
Stotts spent two seasons as the head coach in Atlanta from 2002 to 2004, two years in Milwaukee from 2005 to 2007 and nine seasons at the helm of the Trail Blazers from 2012 to 2021. He led the Blazers to eight playoff appearances, building a fun team around Damian Lillard. He was fired last summer after the Blazers missed the playoffs.
The Lakers won the title in 2019-20, in Vogel’s first season at the helm. They’ve struggled in the two year since, losing to the Suns in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs.They failed to make the Play-In Tournament and the Playoffs in 2021-22 despite being among the title favorites at the start of the season.
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