LeBron James is never going to play in New York, but there always seems to be some New York angle involved with him. The Knicks‘ failed free agency pursuit, going to play for Pat Riley, etc. And now this in the wake of Frank Vogel’s unceremonious firing.
From The Athletic’s Sam Amick:
[H]ere’s a tidbit to monitor as the Lakers conduct their latest coaching search: Sources say James would be very enthused by the prospect of Mark Jackson landing the job. But as history tells us, that doesn’t mean it will actually happen.
If so, that is a bit of a surprising stance by LeBron. There is no shame in the fact the Warriors didn’t get to the next level until Jackson left — Buck Showalter has built a career on being in the same spot — but his time in Golden State had a lot of stuff going on. So much, in fact, he’s been out of coaching for almost a decade. It’s pretty clear the entire NBA has real concerns about Jackson. So the Lakers turning to him to clean up their mess would be a move (then again, it kind of makes perfect sense).
Shouldn’t the Lakers be swinging for the fences though? Sure, it’s OK to eventually hire Mike D’Antoni or something. But it’s the Lakers and LeBron. They’ve got to call John Calipari. They need to see if Coach K wants to put retirement on hold. They have to kick around unrealistic plans about Phil Jackson and spend 15 minutes trying to find a way to get Riley back. It’s called Showtime for a reason.
