The Los Angeles Lakers unfortunately did not make the playoffs this season, which led to them deciding to part ways with head coach Frank Vogel.
Now, while other teams are busy competing for a championship, the Lakers’ business is off the floor as they look for a new head coach that will hopefully get the organization back on track.
The Lakers are still very early in their process, so there has yet to be a true front-runner emerge. They recently requested and were granted permission to interview Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham for their head coaching position, although to this point, he is the only known candidate to actually interview for the job.
It appears another candidate has joined him as Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that the Lakers have requested permission to interview Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin:
Lakers request permission to interview Toronto Raptors assistant for LA’s head coaching job, sources say: pic.twitter.com/Ej1iSe0xqN
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 4, 2022
While this interview request seemingly comes out of nowhere, it is good to see that the Lakers are expanding their search and looking for out-of-the-box candidates as opposed to retreads or coaches that have been in the organization before.
Griffin has never been a head coach in the NBA, although he has a ton of experience as both a player and assistant.
The 47-year-old played for four different teams from 1999-2008 and then immediately went into coaching, where he has served as an assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks (2008–2010), Chicago Bulls (2010-2015), Orlando Magic (2015–2016), Oklahoma City Thunder (2016-18) and Raptors (2018-present).
He has been on Nick Nurse’s staff in Toronto the last few years where they have consistently overachieved and even won a championship in 2019.
While there have been reports that the Lakers were after Nurse, Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri shot those down, so it appears L.A. is now interested in one of their top assistant.
Phil Jackson assisting in Lakers coaching search
While the Lakers are expected to take as much time as they need to find a new head coach, it appears that multiple people are involved in the search as it was recently reported that Phil Jackson was among those assisting Rob Pelinka.
Jackson has been out of the league for a while now but obviously knows a thing or two about coaching and is someone whose opinion is greatly valued by Jeanie Buss and the Lakers brass.
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