Mike D’Antoni will return as Lakers coach, per report
The Lakers won’t have a new head coach next season.
Jeff Gross
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Mike D'Antoni will return for a third season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, according to the Orange Country Register. D'Antoni was widely presumed to be on the hot seat after a 27-55 season and a report that Kobe Bryant had no interest in playing for the coach next season.
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The Lakers finished with the sixth worst record in the NBA and missed the playoffs for just the second time in 20 years. It was a nightmare season for Los Angeles that started the moment Dwight Howard decided to bolt for Houston in free agency. Bryant was limited to just six games, making his return from a torn Achilles on Dec. 8 but then suffering a lateral tibial plateau fracture in his left knee that shut him down for the season.
The decision to bring back D’Antoni will the first of many tough choices the Lakers will have to make this offseason. The team could have as much as $28.2 million in cap room, but will have to decide whether or not to bring back free agent Pau Gasol. This may seem like an offseason of overturn for the Lakers, but a new head coach won’t be one of the changes.
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