The Los Angeles Lakers can reportedly cross another coaching candidate of their list.
Per reporter Marc Stein, Mavericks head Jason Kidd is expected to get a contract extension from Dallas, ensuring that he doesn’t hit the market.
The Lakers are searching for a new coach after firing Darvin Ham following a first-round playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets. They’re doing so amid an offseason of uncertainty surrounding LeBron James, who has the option to opt out of his contract and hasn’t committed to returning to Los Angeles next season.
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue coached James to an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and was likewise expected to be a target of the Lakers. But the Clippers are reportedly seeking to sign Lue to an extension to keep him on their sideline.
Per Stein, the Lakers don’t expect to have a shot at signing Lue or Kidd.
From Stein’s Substack:
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who like Lue has only one season left on his current contract, would also be an obvious target for the Lakers — if Kidd were to become available. That, however, is not expected to happen. League sources say Kidd is also the likely recipient of a contract extension in the near future, having led Dallas to two 50-win seasons and three playoff series wins in four attempts in his three seasons as Mavericks coach.
I’m told that the Lakers, for their part, don’t anticipate Kidd becoming a coaching free agent any more than they expect to have a shot at Lue.
Kidd just coached the Mavericks to a first-round playoff win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Mavericks are slated to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday in Game 1 of their second-round series.
A Hall of Fame point guard who started for the Mavericks during their run to the 2011 NBA championship, Kidd’s in his third season coaching his former team. He was previously an assistant for the Lakers and the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.
