Lakers' HC Search Struggles Should Be Least of LA's Worries amid NBA Rumors

Regardless where the Los Angeles Lakers' search for a new coach goes from here, they obviously aren't getting their preferred choice.

Dan Hurley, fresh off back-to-back national championships, spurned the Lakers' advances and opted to stick around at UConn.

It's hard to say where the franchise will turn from here—even among people within the organization, apparently.

According to The Athletic's Jovan Buha, "there has not been a clear Plan B for the Lakers" following Hurley's rejection. Buha added hearing "a mixed bag" when it comes to alternatives, with opinions ranging from "JJ [Redick] is still the frontrunner" to the team could "scrap the entire pool and start over."

This is, without a doubt, a tough look for this team. The Purple and Gold are a proud bunch—for good reason based on all those championship banners—but it's hard to stay proud when the mirror shows some egg on your face.

The Lakers can't worry about that embarrassment right now, though. They have way too much to figure out to get distracted by their feelings.

This coaching search needs a solution—and fast. The draft starts on June 26. Selecting a player without knowing who will coach them would be less than ideal. And the same holds true if L.A. winds up flipping the pick (and possibly more) for an immediate upgrade.

Redick has felt like the favorite at times—he garnered the biggest buzz before the Hurley hoopla—but ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported there has been "minimal" contact with the team. James Borrego has been mentioned, too, but as Windhorst noted, he is "currently a finalist for the Cleveland Cavaliers coaching job."

And considering both names were making turns through the rumor mill before Hurley's addition, you wonder whether the Lakers love either option.

Rushing into a decision of this magnitude isn't the answer, but L.A. needs to find a solution fast, because there are even bigger hurdles to clear this offseason.

Like, say, the goat-shaped elephant in the room that is the uncertain future of one LeBron James.

His contract features a $51.4 million player option for next season, per Spotrac, and while most crystal balls showing him staying in Hollywood, nothing is set in stone. Folks are also wondering whether he and the Lakers might be better off apart.

L.A. doesn't have a championship pulse without James, so it'd be best for the franchise if he stuck around. Would it be the best basketball decision for him, though? That's debatable. He'll turn 40 before the calendar flips to 2025, so clearly his basketball clock is ticking. If he wants to add to his jewelry collection, he might sense there are better places to pursue that goal, as the Lakers have managed just a single top-six finish in the Western Conference standings over the past 12 seasons.

If James does stick around, then L.A. must scramble to put a championship-caliber supporting cast around him and Anthony Davis. Weighing the Lakers' list of needs against their options of finding said support with no salary-cap space and limited trade assets, this challenge lands somewhere between incredibly difficult and impossible.

This has long loomed as an everything-must-go-right kind of offseason for the Lakers, which added to the sting of Hurley's rejection.

They have to get over the pain of rejection, though, because there's plenty more work to be done—and soul-crushing consequences if it's not done correctly.