University of Connecticut men’s basketball Coach Dan Hurley plans to decide Monday whether he will become the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN reported on Sunday.
Per the report, Mr. Hurley was impressed with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka, the team’s vice president of basketball operations, during a meeting and spent Sunday mulling a long-term offer to leave UConn for his first NBA coaching job.
Mr. Hurley, who has guided the Huskies to back-to-back NCAA championships the past two seasons, traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday, met with the Lakers on Friday, and went back to Connecticut on Saturday.
Ms. Buss and Mr. Pelinka informed Hurley of their plan to combine his successful methods at the college level as a tactician and developer of players with the Lakers’ brand of basketball. Per ESPN, star Lakers forward Anthony Davis is a big part of the talks regarding the team’s next coach and how he'll be used on both ends of the court.
Mr. Hurley, 51, has posted a 141–58 record while leading UConn to four NCAA Tournament appearances during his six seasons at the helm. He had a 38–23 record during two seasons as the head coach at Wagner and a 113–82 mark in six campaigns with Rhode Island.
The Lakers fired Darvin Ham on May 3 after two seasons, including an appearance in the Western Conference finals in 2023.
The Lakers went 47–35 this season, good for only an eighth-place finish in the Western Conference. They defeated the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in round to earn the No. 7 seed in the playoffs but were bounced by the defending champion Denver Nuggets in five games in the opening round.
Mr. Ham posted a 90–74 regular-season record but was 9–12 in the playoffs after replacing Frank Vogel before the 2022–23 season.
