NBA Rumors: L.A. Lakers Reveal Main Reason Why Talks With Coach Tyronn Lue Ended, Per Bill Simmons
When Luke Walton was fired from the Los Angeles Lakers, Tyronn Lue immediately became the favorite to become the new head coach. That’s hardly a surprise since Lue was the head coach of Lakers superstar LeBron James in Cleveland where they made three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and won an NBA title. Unfortunately, Lue and the Lakers failed to reach a contract agreement as the 42-year-old mentor reportedly wanted a better deal than what Los Angeles initially offered.
On Twitter, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that the Lakers offered Tyronn Lue a three-year, $18 million contract to be their next head coach. However, Lue and his camp demanded a five-year deal “with salary commensurate with championship resume.” On the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Bill Simmons of The Ringer revealed that Lue’s relationship with soon-to-be free agent Kyrie Irving also served as one of the major reasons why he and the Lakers decided to go in different directions.
“The rumor mill is fantastic,” Simmons said during a conversation with longtime Celtics radio play-by-play announcer Sean Grande, as quoted by Yahoo Sports. “I don’t mind passing along various things I’ve heard, including, somebody told me that Ty Lue — the Lakers had to back out of the Ty Lue thing because Ty Lue and Kyrie, they couldn’t be together again and Kyrie’s going to go there and that’s why that fell through. Not because of the contract. I have no idea if that’s true or not but that’s going to be the next two months of my life.”
Negotiations between Tyronn Lue and the Lakers have halted and no deal has been made, per @wojespn.
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— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) May 8, 2019
Simmons admitted that he has no idea whether the rumor is true or not. However, if it is true, it seems like that there is a chance that Kyrie Irving will consider reuniting with LeBron James in Los Angeles this summer. As everyone knows, the Lakers purposely filled their roster with one-year contracts in order to maintain their salary cap flexibility for the summer of 2019, when Irving is set to become an unrestricted free agent.
A year ago, no one would think that Kyrie Irving would have been interested in teaming up again with LeBron James, especially with how things ended between them in Cleveland. However, on the Hoop Collective podcast, per Yahoo Sports, Brian Windhorst of ESPN revealed that as the 2019 NBA free agency draws closer, the Irving-James reunion is starting to become a huge possibility.
With their failure to get the service of Tyronn Lue, the Lakers decided to hire Frank Vogel as their new head coach. Vogel will be joined by former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd as his lead assistant in Los Angeles.
