Lakers Fans Speculate About Frank Vogel Reunion Amid Redick Rumors After Suns Fire HC

The Phoenix Suns fired Frank Vogel on Thursday after going 49-33 in his first season with the team, culminating in a first-round sweep by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

"As we said at the press conference on May 1, team leadership including myself, Josh Bartelstein, and ownership would be looking across basketball operations to determine what changes needed to be made," Suns general manager James Jones said in a statement. "After a thoughtful review of the season, we concluded that we needed a different head coach for our team. We appreciate Frank's hard work and commitment."

Granted, the Suns had far more issues than the head coach, namely in having no true point guard, no rim-protecting center, no depth and very little time for Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal to jell.

But sure, it was the head coach's fault.

It turns out that Vogel's former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, also has a coaching vacancy after firing Darvin Ham last week after just two seasons on the job.

So yes, as you can imagine, Lakers fans and pundits online were connecting some dots after Thursday's news, to varying degrees of seriousness:

One of the more fun rumors regarding the Lakers' vacancy has been that former player and current ESPN analyst and podcaster J.J. Redick is a potential candidate for the job, though he's never coached before.

The Lakers will likely cast a wide net as they look to rebound after yet again needing the Play-In Tournament to reach the postseason, only to be eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in just five games during the first round.

As for Vogel, he could afford to take a year—or four!—away from coaching if he so desired after the Suns signed him to a five-year, $31 million deal a year ago. He can choose to be picky about his future prospects, in other words, and returning to the organization that scapegoated him two years ago for their own poorly constructed roster probably wouldn't make much sense.