The Los Angeles Lakers are currently looking for a head coach, and one name who has continuously come up in their search has been Doc Rivers.
Rivers is currently the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, of course, but there were some reports that the Lakers would have interest in him if he was let go.
Once the 76ers were officially eliminated from the postseason on Thursday night, the rumors linking him to L.A. immediately began to pick up steam.
It appears that’s all they were though, rumors, as 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey confirmed on Friday morning that Rivers will be returning next season, via Tim Bontemps of ESPN:
Daryl Morey says Doc Rivers will be back as coach next season.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 13, 2022
Even though the 76ers had a disappointing exit from the postseason, this doesn’t come as a huge surprise considering Rivers still has three years remaining on his contract and they still would’ve had to pay him that if they parted ways.
So it looks like Philadelphia will keep Rivers for at least one more year hoping they can stay healthy and finally make a run.
For the Lakers, they now have to shift their focus elsewhere in their coaching search. They have interviewed for requested to interview a number of candidates including Mark Jackson, Terry Stotts, Darvin Ham, Adrian Griffin, Charles Lee and Kenny Atkinson.
The Lakers are not expected to be in any sort of rush to find a replacement for Frank Vogel though, so there still will likely be more candidates to come.
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