Lakers fire coach Frank Vogel after disappointing season
The Los Angeles Lakers are firing head coach Frank Vogel.
The Lakers are anticipated to fireside Vogel as quickly as Monday, in line with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The report got here after their 146-141 time beyond regulation win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday to shut out the common season.
Vogel met with reporters after Sunday’s sport and was requested concerning the ESPN report.
“I have not been advised s***. I’ll take pleasure in tonight’s sport and have a good time what these younger guys did when it comes to scratching and clawing and getting again on this sport and getting a W. We’ll cope with ‘tomorrow’ tomorrow,” Vogel mentioned, through NBA.com’s Mark Medina.
The Lakers did not make the play-in event and missed the playoffs completely two seasons after profitable the 2020 NBA championship in Vogel’s first season that culminated within the Orlando bubble.
The 2021-22 season was disastrous from the beginning. The group acquired Russell Westbrook in a five-team trade in the offseason, transport out Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma. The Lakers didn’t have a lot cap area to herald impression gamers round a core of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Westbrook.
The group stood pat on the commerce deadline, preserving Talen Horton-Tucker, who was incessantly in commerce discussions, and Kendrick Nunn, who sat out the entire season because of a bone bruise in his knee. Nunn is reportedly expected to exercise his $5.2 million player option for subsequent season.
On the deadline, a deal to swap Westbrook with Houston Rockets guard John Wall fell aside due to the Lakers’ unwillingness to include their 2027 first-round pick, Yahoo Sports activities’ Chris Haynes reported. Wall, who didn’t play this season due to a disagreement with the Rockets on his function, has about the one contract within the league that may work for a Westbrook swap.
On the time, Westbrook had been relegated to the bench late in video games and was vocal about his displeasure in Vogel’s determination.
This summer time, the Lakers could have first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 that may be included in trades.
The group by no means discovered cohesion, as James missed 26 video games with varied accidents and Davis missed 42. Even when wholesome, there have been obvious issues with the roster development and who would step up within the clutch. Many predicted the result from the outset, however James implored media, fans and others — in a now-deleted tweet — to “keep that same narrative energy” all through the season.
That “narrative” led to the most disappointing season in NBA history.
Vogel went 127-98 in three seasons with the Lakers. He was employed in Could 2019 after Luke Walton and the Lakers parted methods after three seasons during which the group missed the playoffs every year.
In January, the Athletic’s Bill Oram and Sam Amick reported Vogel was “coaching for his job” and could be “evaluated on a game-to-game foundation.”
“On this enterprise and with this group, should you’re not profitable at a super-high stage, you’re going to get such a noise,” Vogel said at the time, per the Associated Press. “I’m good at blocking it out. I be ok with the job we’re doing, and clearly we imagine the outcomes are going to return. However over the course of an 82-game season with a brand new group, you’re going to have some ugly nights.”
It positive acquired ugly.
