Lakers ‘Definitely’ Not Getting Former All-Star Game Coach from Longtime Rival

The Los Angeles fired Frank Vogel at the end of their disappointing season. Vogel made some bad moves in the regular season, but the problem is embedded deeper into the franchise. The Lakers front office has to make some big decisions. Rob Pelinka is still under contract, but there has been speculation about his future with the team. He was the one who made all the moves last offseason after all. For now, the only thing Lakers think of is finding their next head coach and they aren’t getting one from their longtime rival.

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was mentioned as an option, but he is not coming to LA.

Lakers won’t be getting top coach from their rival despite his respect for LeBron James

Stevens has nothing but respect for LeBron James, but he won’t join the Lakers as their next head coach.

Brad Stevens was asked on @Toucherandrich if he’d have interest in coaching the Los Angeles Lakers: "I definitely would not leave the Celtics to go to the Lakers. Like, I'm definitely not doing that. I know that for a fact.”

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) April 14, 2022

“He’s as special as special gets,” Stevens said of LeBron in January 2021. “He’d be a multiple-time more MVP winner if people didn’t get bored and look for other things to discuss.”

The four-time NBA champion respects Stevens, too. He really likes the Celtics coaching staff and once said they were a “very-well coached team”. Stevens did a wonderful job in Boston as a head coach and LeBron admires his skills.

“I highly respect their coaching staff and especially their head coach,” LeBron said in the 2014-15 NBA season. “A very well-coached team, he put those guys out there every night and put them in position to win the game and I think Brad Stevens is a very good young coach in our league.”

Remove Doc Rivers from the list of candidates as well

Enter Doc Rivers and Quin Synder. These two are great options and they could really fit in the system. Rivers once said Los Angeles belongs to the Lakers. He also likes LeBron. However, Jake Fischer from Bleacher Report wouldn’t bet on them as a replacement for Vogel.

“There seems to be a lot of momentum toward him (Rivers) exiting stage left in Philly,” Fisher said. “Doc spent a lot of time in LA as the Clippers coach. Talk around the league is that that’s the job that he wants and I wonder if the Doc-Lakers smoke is more driven by that being a situation that Doc wants than the Lakers want.

“To be honest, I’ve heard from a lot of people who are close to Quin or who have worked with Quin or have known Quin in the past, it doesn’t seem like Lakers is something that he really would want. I feel like that interest and his name popping up might be coming more so from the Los Angeles side of things and that the San Antonio job would be far more attractive to him.”