Lakers offer head coaching job to Byron Scott

UPDATE: The Lakers and Scott agreed to a four-year deal worth $17 million.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Byron Scott are negotiating a contract after the franchise offered Scott its head coaching job, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard. Scott would take over for Mike D’Antoni, who last season led the Lakers to their worst campaign since moving from Minnesota to Los Angeles.

Scott has been the head coach of three different teams since 2000. He was named the 2008 Coach of the Year after guiding Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets to a 56-26 regular season. Scott most recently was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers for three seasons, but was fired following the 2012-13 campaign.

The connection to the Lakers is obvious with Scott. He played for the franchise as a shooting guard for 11 seasons and was a part of three championship teams there alongside Magic Johnson and James Worthy.

Scott got the start to his head coaching career in New Jersey. He led the Nets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances behind Jason Kidd, but lost both championship series to the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. He was fired by New Jersey in 2004 amid reports of a rift between he and Kidd.

Scott never made the playoffs in Cleveland, compiling a 64-166 record in the franchise’s first three seasons without LeBron James. In Los Angeles, he’ll lead a Kobe Bryant-led team that has added Carlos Boozer, Julius Randle, Ed Davis and Jeremy Lin into the mix. The Lakers finished No. 14 out of 15 teams in the Western Conference last season.