The Los Angeles Lakers may be preparing a “massive” contract offer to make UConn’s Dan Hurley their next head coach, but they have yet to get a firm commitment from the back-to-back NCAA Champion. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Hurley is “weighing” the offer.
But Los Angeles’ head coaching search isn’t over until the Lakers get a commitment from Hurley. Now, according to NBA insider Marc Stein, there’s a new “stealth candidate” who could still wind up as the next Lakers coach, former Villanova leader Jay Wright.
“I know that there is great interest in the backstory here …. whether Hurley indeed was the Lakers’ dream target all along or if the Lakers increased the intensity of their Hurley courtship more recently because of 11th-hour doubts about Redick or anyone else in the process,” Stein wrote. “(I had been warned early on by one well-placed insider, for what it’s worth, to stay ready in case former Villanova coach Jay Wright emerged as a stealth candidate.) That backstory is sure to surface sooner rather than later … presumably soon after the Lakers do or don’t land Hurley.”
Marc Stein on Jay Wright’s candidacy to become next Lakers coach
Like Hurley, Wright is a two-time NCAA Champion head coach, leading Villanova to victories in 2016 and 2018. Wright retired after being eliminated in the Final Four, ending a 21-year run at Villanova from 2001 to 2022.
While Wright, who’s 62, is as proven as they come in the college ranks, the one feat he hasn’t accomplished is trying his hand at winning the NBA Finals, but if Stein’s sources are correct, he could be eying his first jump to the pros.
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