The Los Angeles Lakers are gearing up for the Play-In Tournament first round on Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. The winner earns the No. 7 seed and a first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets, while the loser has to fight for the No. 8 seed in a win or go home game. But there are 10 teams — including the Charlotte Hornets — whose seasons are completely over.
The Hornets, in particular, are already deep into a search for their next head coach. Steve Clifford assumed a role in the Hornets front office, leaving the team in need of a signal caller, and they are searching far and wide for Clifford’s successor. Their search has led them to the Lakers coaching staff and assistant coach Jordan Ott.
Ott has been an NBA assistant for the last eight years with two different franchises, and is now reportedly under preliminary consideration for the Hornets head coaching position, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
ESPN Sources: The Charlotte Hornets’ coaching search continues with preliminary round interviews that include Lakers assistant Jordan Ott and former Vanderbilt and Raptors G-League coach Jerry Stackhouse.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 15, 2024
Ott has been with the Lakers for the last two seasons under head coach Darvin Ham. He was one of five coaches Ham brought in for his first season with the team last year. Prior to that, Ott spent six seasons as an assistant coach on the Brooklyn Nets staff. He was brought in by Kenny Atkinson, and stuck around for the tenures of Steve Nash and Jacque Vaughn before being hired by Ham in L.A.
He was the head coach of both the Lakers and Nets Summer League teams in 2021 and 2022. And prior to his Nets tenure, he was a video coordinator for three seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. Ott would be more than qualified to lead a team of his own, but he’ll have some stiff competition.
So far, the Hornets are rumored to be interviewing Ott, Jerry Stackhouse, David Adelman, Charles Lee, Jay Larranaga, Lindsey Harding and Royal Ivey.
Anthony Davis: defensive intensity is key for Lakers in Play-In Tournament
Anthony Davis was dominant in the team’s regular season finale against the New Orleans Pelicans, controlling the paint and finishing with 30 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in the win. The two teams will now turn right around and face each other in the Play-In Tournament with the winner being the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
As far as Davis is concerned, the key to the Lakers repeating the final outcome on Tuesday is to maintain that defensive intensity they had on Sunday.
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