UConn Basketball: Could the Huskies lose HC Dan Hurley to the Los Angeles Lakers?

After the ups and downs and the twists and turns of the Los Angeles Lakers coaching carousel, they have reportedly begun pursuing two-time National Champion Dan Hurley, who is coming off back-to-back titles with the Connecticut Huskies, supplanting himself as potentially the best head coach in college basketball. 

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “The Lakers have had preliminary contact with Hurley, and both sides are planning to escalate discussions in the coming days. Hurley’s been at the forefront of the Lakers’ search from the beginning of the process, even while the organization has done its due diligence in interviewing other candidates.” 

“Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss are eager to formally discuss their vision with Hurley of marrying his dominant program—built upon both his tactical acumen and elite player development—to the storied Lakers’ brand.” 

Earlier this week, it seemed like the team’s search was nearing the end. JJ Redick was the leading and most prominent candidate, coming from many sources, and the tides have now shifted. Los Angeles is looking to maximize what they have left of LeBron James, as well as build for the future after James is gone, and Dan Hurley is and has been the guy that Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss have wanted from the start. 

This development has been one of the more shocking and odd turns we have seen recently. There were zero reports coming out about the possibilities of Hurley leaving UConn, and now it seems like a very plausible probability. 

Hurley has built a program at UConn that can be the face of college basketball for a long time, so the decision to leave won’t be easy, but it’s not every day that one of the richest and most historic franchises targets you to be the organization’s next leader.