Lakers' LeBron James Appears to Call Clippers' Ty Lue 'the Best Coach in the Game'

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James appeared to call Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue the best coach in the game as the Clips rolled off a 34-6 run during their play-in game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.

While James didn't mention Lue specifically, it was pretty clear who he was talking about given their history and the timing of the tweet.

James played under Lue on the Cleveland Cavaliers from January 2016 through June 2018. The duo won three Eastern Conference titles and one NBA championship together.

As ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk noted, the Lakers could have signed Lue in 2019. However, as Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported, talks between the two sides broke down because L.A. wasn't willing to offer more than a three-year deal.

Lue wanted a five-year contract, which is what ex-Lakers coach Luke Walton signed. L.A. ended up replacing Walton with Frank Vogel, who won the 2019-20 championship but was fired after this past year following a 32-50 campaign.

Lue has never lost to the Lakers as the Clippers' coach.

Lue led the Clippers to a 42-40 record this year despite missing Kawhi Leonard all season with a partially torn ACL and Paul George for 51 games because of a torn UCL in his right elbow.