Shortly after Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson resigned, they parted ways with head coach Luke Walton after the 2018-19 NBA season.
With so much drama surrounding the Lakers, the team’s head coaching search only added to it as former Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel was their third choice.
As Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams became the Phoenix Suns head coach and former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue ended negotiations, the Lakers eventually hired Vogel to replace Walton.
Following Day 3 of 2019 NBA training camp, James was asked about the team’s month-long head coaching search considering his history with Lue on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I pretty much let the people upstairs handle everything that needed to be done with the ball club,” James said about the team’s head coaching search. “I trusted them, they trusted me, and we settled with a great coach. I look forward to working with Coach Vogel and his coaching staff.”
And at this stage of his future Hall of Fame career, James is simply looking for two qualities from his head coach.
“I don’t think it’s personal. We all want a coach that holds us accountable and puts us in position to win,” James shared.
Throughout James’ career, he has been labeled as a ‘coach killer’ by the media. Whether it is fair or not, it appears James does respect Vogel after their NBA playoff battles and that will go a long way for the 2019-20 season now.
After taking last season off, Vogel has a better understanding of today’s offense to go along with his defense. If Vogel can lead the Lakers to a championship, then all of the drama was obviously a blessing in disguise.
However, unlike his previous stints with the Pacers and Orlando Magic, there is a lot of pressure on Vogel to maximize James, Anthony Davis, and strong role players.
With Vogel setting the tone to begin training camp, it will be interesting to see if he can fulfill James’ two demands.