Lakers will not hire Tyronn Lue as head coach, reports say

Thomas Lott

Lakers will not hire Tyronn Lue as head coach, reports say image

Tyronn Lue will not be the Lakers' next head coach.

The team reportedly moved on from Lue as their top candidate Wednesday.

The reason for this decision reportedly came down to the length of the deal along with the compensation. Los Angeles initially offered a lower contract than what Lue wanted on Tuesday and then came back with a three-year, $18 million deal Wednesday, according to ESPN.

Lue then pulled out of negotiations as he wanted a five-year contract with a "salary commensurate with (a) championship resume."

All of this comes a little after ESPN reported that contract negotiations between Los Angeles and Lue had stalled earlier Wednesday without a deal being agreed upon.

Reports had been coming out in recent days saying Lue was always the team's top choice and the Lakers were simply doing their due diligence in interviewing Monty Williams and Jason Kidd.

Part of the hangup also appears to be around the team's coaching staff alongside Lue. The Lakers want to put Kidd on the staff with Lue, according to ESPN.

At one point it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Lue — LeBron James' former coach with the Cavaliers — would be the next person to run the Lakers. That appears to not be true anymore.

Lue won an NBA championship in 2016 with the Cavaliers as they came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to beat the Warriors in seven games.

He has a 211-128 record in a little more than two seasons as an NBA coach.

He was fired by the Cavaliers after the team started the 2018-19 season 0-6 a year after James left for the Lakers.

The Lakers will now turn their attention to new coaching candidates. According to the Athletic, the team will look at Frank Vogel, Mike Woodson and Lionel Hollins.

Thomas Lott