A few months ago, people could see the walls caving in on the Lakers playoff hopes and folks started wondering more openly about the status of Luke Walton’s job. And as the end of the season approaches, when most expect Walton to be relieved of his duties, we have more proof that the Lakers added plenty of heat to his seat even as Walton tried to make the playoffs.
At around that time, Jason Kidd was listed as the early betting favorite to take the Lakers head job. And according to The Athletic’s Bill Oram and Frank Isola, the Lakers did indeed reach out to Kidd to gauge his interest in the job during the season.
This is incredibly interesting because only a few weeks ago, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith went out of his way to say that the Lakers are not interested in Jason Kidd. But they evidently were at one point, so it’s worth wondering what happened since those early contacts or which other potential candidates emerged to have them so aggressively deny his candidacy.
Given the Lakers track record and reputation, they very well may have soured on Kidd due to low public opinion on the hire. It also doesn’t help Kidd’s chances that the Milwaukee Bucks team he coached to a few playoff appearances has the best record in the league and home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
