Report: Lakers Urged to Fire Frank Vogel

The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of problems at the moment and Stephen A. Smith believes their head coach is one of them. If you ask Smith, he’d say that the Lakers should fire Frank Vogel.

Vogel’s work with the team came under fire after the team reached the ninth seed in the Western Conference. LeBron James missed time due to an injury and Anthony Davis is out again. Russell Westbrook? He is just a shelf of himself. The nine-time All-Star is one of the most competitive players in the NBA, but the Lakers didn’t get any of this competitiveness at all. Broddie’s struggles triggered an avalanche of rumors and fans want him out. Let’s just say they don’t like the fact that their idols will have to take part in the play-in tournament again.

Rob Pelinka didn’t make a move at the trade deadline and he didn’t want to get rid of Westbrook. Getting John Wall through a trade wasn’t a solution and the Houston Rockets wanted a first-round pick, too. It didn’t happen and Pelinka had other plans. Some say he’d gladly sacrifice the season instead of letting his first-rounder go.

Smith has an advice for the Lakers and wants them to fire Frank Vogel

Vogel helped the Lakers win a title inside the Orlando bubble but analysts criticize his work this season. Smith doesn’t like the fact that LeBron has to put up with so much at the moment. He wants the Lakers to put him “out of his misery.”

“It’s time for Frank Vogel to go,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take. “He has to go as head coach of this franchise. It’s time to put him out of his misery. It’s time to put LeBron James out of his misery. Well, it’s not that they’re losing. If you’re scratching and clawing — it’s nip and tuck — but were able to point to injuries, that would be different. That’s not what’s going on here with the Los Angeles Lakers. We’re seeing a level of inefficiency, a level of ineptitude, a lack of spirit. It’s like these guys don’t know what it means to be Lakers. I think It’s Frank Vogel’s responsibility to overcome that.

“It’s not his fault, ladies and gentlemen, as it pertains to this roster and the position that they put him in. I’m not saying that Frank Vogel doesn’t deserve to be a head coach in the National Basketball Association, but I’ve seen coaches facing arduous circumstances with a roster that performed much better than he’s done as a coach. LeBron James is your star. You can lose games. Yes you don’t have to be 10 games under .500. You don’t have to give up 48 points in a first quarter and then follow that up by getting outscored 26-4 to start a game. There’s no spirit, there’s no enthusiasm, there is nothing. The Lakers are a shell of themselves. At this particular moment in time, it’s embarrassing to watch this team.”