After sporting a facade as a competent professional organization, the Lakers nuked it all to the ground in a matter of hours on Wednesday afternoon. In a series of reports that only progressively spelled more and more doom for the potential relationship with the two parties, Ty Lue and the Los Angeles Lakers could not come to an agreement on a deal with the two sides parting ways.
The two first hit an “impasse” in negotiations, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski in his first report of many on the day. The crux of the problem in negotiations was the Lakers’ reported insistence on having Jason Kidd be the associate head coach on Lue’s staff with Lue himself wanting Frank Vogel.
The other large factor in the inability for the two to come to an agreement is the Lakers’ unwillingness to meet Lue and his camp in the middle with regards to contract length and amount.
After initially having their offer turned down by Lue, the Lakers came back with a 3-year, $18 million offer that met neither the amount nor year requirements Lue was seeking.
In the end, the Lakers’ odd insistence on operating as a small market team lowballing a head coach in an uncapped market cost the team a chance at a championship-quality coach. It’s a bizarre twist for a franchise that continues to make bizarre choices. As the incompetence racks up, the consequences will certainly continue to follow.
