Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham and former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts reportedly have advanced to the final round of interviews for the Los Angeles Lakers’ head-coaching job.
Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham and former Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts are among candidates who've advanced to the final round of interviews for the Los Angeles Lakers’ coaching job, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 20, 2022
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson is reportedly also a finalist for the job.
Sources: Finalists for the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job: Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson and former Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts. Next stage of interviews are expected to take place in-person in Los Angeles.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 20, 2022
The Lakers are looking to find the right head coach to take the team back to the postseason after they missed the playoffs in the 2021-22 season. The team let Frank Vogel go following the 2021-22 regular season after he spent three seasons as the team’s head coach.
Ham has been an assistant coach for the Bucks for the last four seasons. Ham broke into coaching in the NBA in the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach for the Lakers.
As for Stotts, he was let go by the Blazers following the 2020-21 season after nine seasons as the team’s head coach. With the Blazers, Stotts compiled a 402-318 record and led the team to the Western Conference Finals in the 2018-19 season.
The Lakers are aiming to get back to their championship level of play after back-to-back down seasons. In addition to a new head coach, Los Angeles will need LeBron James and Anthony Davis to stay healthy if it wants to compete for an NBA title next season.
