Lakers Head Coach Odds: Juwan Howard Favored over Tyronn Lue in Latest Lines

Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard is the clear favorite to be on the sidelines for the Los Angeles Lakers next season.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue and current Lakers coach Luke Walton are among the favorites, h/t RealGM:

• Juwan Howard +400
• Tyronn Lue +700
• Luke Walton +700
• Tom Thibodeau +750
• Jason Kidd +900
• Jerry Stackhouse +1000
• Mark Jackson +1200
• Brian Shaw +1200

Interestingly, Howard has ties to Los Angeles superstar LeBron James both as a player and as a coach. The two were teammates with the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2013 after James left Cleveland the first time. He joined Erik Spoelstra's coaching staff in South Beach immediately upon retirement in 2013.

The 46-year-old does not have any NBA coaching experience, although he has coached the Heat in the Summer League and Team Africa in the NBA Africa Game 2018.

Lue, on the other hand, has emerged as a front-runner thanks to his previous success with James. Lue was an assistant on David Blatt's staff when James returned to Cleveland in 2014 and ultimately took over as the Cavaliers' head coach during the 2015-16 season. He helped the franchise win its first-ever championship during his first year on the job and made two more Finals appearances.

Lue was fired by Cleveland, though, amid a 0-6 start this season following James' departure.

Bill Oram of The Athletic reported last week that Lue reached out to Walton to let him know that nobody from the Lakers organization had contacted him about a potential vacancy.

As for Walton, the 39-year-old has seemingly been on the hot seat since James signed last offseason. ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski and Dave McMenamin reported Lakers president Magic Johnson "admonished" Walton following a 3-5 start to the season, though Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported in February that team owner Jeanie Buss wants to give the coach "every opportunity to succeed."

However, with the Lakers just 96-145 and 0-for-3 in terms of playoff appearances under Walton, a change could be imminent. Walton, though, told Oram that he expects to return for the final guaranteed year of his contract:

"I fully expect to be coaching this team again next year.

"I just view it as outside noise unless someone from within tells me that that happened. Unless someone from within our group is telling me that, I just view it like all the other things we've gone through as a team this year. Those are things that I don't have the time to worry about. I've got more important things to do like getting the team better and doing my job."

While Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers has shut down Lakers rumors, there are plenty of potential candidates for Johnson and Co. to explore.