Former Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts, current Bucks assistant Darvin Ham and ex-Nets coach Kenny Atkinson are finalists for the Lakers coaching vacancy, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
It is not clear if anyone else is up for the position, and both Stotts and Ham were cited by Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, leading to speculation it will come down to those two.
Of the three named, only Ham has no experience as a head coach. Instead, he has worked under Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer since 2014, first with the Hawks. Ham and the Bucks won the NBA championship in 2021.
Stotts parted ways with the Blazers at the end of the 2020-21 season and has been available since. He began coaching the Blazers in 2012 and owns a 402-318 record in Portland.
He has also served as head coach of the Bucks and Hawks, and carries a 517-486 record in 13 seasons overall. The Blazers made the playoffs eight straight years under Stotts, then missed it this past season. He is said to be a candidate for the Hornets as well.
Atkinson coached the Nets from 2016-20, compiling a 118-190 record and leading them to the playoffs in 2019. He was fired just before the season was paused because of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.
He currently serves as an assistant under Tyronn Lue with the Clippers, and has been an assistant with the Knicks and Hawks, too.
The Lakers are looking to replace Frank Vogel, fired after three seasons and one title (2020).
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