Lakers Conduct In-Person Coaching Interview With James Borrego

The Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to hold an in-person interview with coaching candidate James Borrego, per Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.

Borrego is among those who are said to be strong candidates for the vacancy, along with JJ Redick and several others.

Borrego, 46, is currently an assistant under Willie Green with the New Orleans Pelicans. Before that, he served as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, compiling a 138-163 record from 32018-22. The Hornets improved by 10 wins in each of Borrego’s final three seasons.

Meanwhile, as we relayed here, Redick is the expected frontrunner for the job.

“Borrego, though, is the first candidate through the door for the Lakers advancing to this stage,” Woike wrote. “Redick, according to people with knowledge of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly, is also expected to secure in-person meetings.”

Interestingly, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported that should Redick get the job, he could hire Borrego to his staff of assistants.

“More smoke to support the idea that ESPN’s JJ Redick is indeed the leading candidate to land the Lakers’ head coaching job: Rumbles about possible staff targets for Redick have already begun to circulate,” Stein wrote. “League sources say fellow Lakers search candidates Sam Cassell (Boston) and James Borrego (New Orleans) would be prime targets for Redick’s staff as well as an expected run at trying to bring Mavericks assistant coach Jared Dudley back to Lakerland. As a Lakers player for the final two seasons of his career in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Dudley had strong relationships with both LeBron James and Anthony Davis.”

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— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) May 29, 2024