Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka Hammered Online as Lakers Fans Call for Firing Over Dan Hurley Miss: “Nothing but a Tarnished Brand”

It feels like the Los Angeles Lakers head coach hiring process has been going on forever. When the team met with Dan Hurley, things were looking promising. But to the Lakers’ disappointment, Hurley is not interested in filling the position that Darvin Ham left empty after being fired a month ago.

According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the UConn head coach turned down the Lakers’ six-year, $70 million offer to stay with the Huskies. The contract would’ve seated him amongst the top 6 highest-paid coaches in the league but it somehow wasn’t enough for Hurly. Safe to say, fans have a lot of opinions to offer about Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka.

Is Los Angeles a coach-hell?

Fans are tired of the LA Lakers. The team has fired two head coaches in the past five years and fans feel that the problems might lie with the team and not the coaches. After hearing news of Dan Hurley’s rejection, people took to Twitter to share and give their two cents.

One user seemed to think that former college basketball player and ex-Golden State Warriors GM, Bob Myers might be the answers to the team’s prayers. The user felt that if Myers was in charge of basketball operations, he could fix the Lakers’ “tarnished brand.”

Many felt that it was Rob Pelinka’s fault. As the vice president of basketball operations, Pelinka was in charge of securing the deal with Hurley. Reporter Anthony Irwin said, “I don’t know how Pelinka remains employed after this.” But fans came to Pelinka’s rescue, suggesting that the blame be put on Jeanie Buss instead since she’s the owner.

On the other hand, some fans seemed to think that the Lakers front office just did not handle this well. Here’s what they said.

The Lakers front office struggling to find Darvin Ham’s replacement

Dan Hurley has been deemed as one of the top coaches in the league right now. His time with UConn has been phenomenal and when Lakers fans heard about a potential match-up, they were thrilled. But it seems that Hurley may have had higher expectations from LA’s offer for him. LA offered him $70 million over 6 years. This figure is more than double his current salary; $32.1 million over six years. So what was the problem?

Fans felt that the Lakers had not gone all out on the deal. A Lakers fan account said, “$70 mil was never going to get it done. The Lakers needed to offer $100 million.”

But $70 million is a big increase from Hurley’s current play so why did he reject the lucrative contract? Was he just simply not interested? A user thought that the Lakers’ offer of $11.6 million per year was simply not enough to coach a team that was a “mess.” They said, “$11M/year wasn’t gonna get it done for Dan Hurley. Not a serious enough offer to get him to leave UConn for that mess.”

One thing’s for sure, Lakers fans are tired of the front office. Even though the Lakers went all out on Hurley’s contract, it was not convincing enough. This leaves the teams with two other options; James Borrego and JJ Redick. The Los Angeles Lakers need to quickly pivot and find the right fit for their upcoming season. The clock is ticking and their roster isn’t getting any younger.