Before the Los Angeles Lakers can hire a new head coach to replace Frank Vogel, they are conducting interviews with a number of different candidates.
As things currently stand, the Lakers are known to have interviewed or received permission to interview five different candidates in Mark Jackson, Terry Stotts, Darvin Ham, Adrian Griffin and Kenny Atkinson, who is the most recent of the bunch.
Considering the Lakers don’t have any big roster decisions to make until the draft and free agency, they are not believed to be in any sort of rush to find a new head coach.
So as they continue the interview process, another candidate has emerged in Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee with the Lakers reportedly requesting permission to interview him, per Shams Charania of The Athletic:
The Lakers have requested permission to interview Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee for their head coaching job, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 12, 2022
Lee becomes the second Bucks assistant the Lakers have requested to interview with Ham being the first.
Ham has more experience as an NBA assistant as Lee began coaching as an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks (2014-18) before moving on to the Bucks (2018-present). Lee is just 37 years of age though, previously playing professionally overseas before moving on to coaching.
One possibility is that the Lakers may want to add Lee as an assistant if they hire Ham as head coach. While these interviews are for the head coaching position, the Lakers can only hire one head coach and will need to fill out the rest of their staff after that so the process can serve multiple purposes.
Lakers expected to interview 8-10 candidates
Either way though, the Lakers are expected to interview around 8-10 candidates so there likely will still be more in the coming days and weeks.
The Lakers are believed to be looking for someone with past head coaching experience, although they are interviewing all kinds of different candidates so that may not be set in stone.
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