The Los Angeles Lakers are in for a change of pace. Looking far and wide, the Purple & Gold was taking it slow after the prompt dismissal of Darvin Ham. They had good reason too. With their franchise superstar’s future undecided, the Lakers wanted to ensure they had the right pieces for a championship-ready season if LeBron James indeed decided to stay back. Even without the LeBron aspect, the next head coach, whoever that may be, will be joining amidst lofty expectations. Simply put, the franchise would want him to take the team to their 18th ring.

Under such circumstances, Mike Budenholzer had become LA’s top candidate. A 5x NBA champion coach, four as an assistant coach and one as head coach, Coach Bud, was quite the prospect. However, veteran analyst Brian Windhorst had said that even if the Lakers wanted Mike, they wouldn’t be able to afford him.

Joining ESPN’s morning show, Get Up, he pointed out that “It’s gonna take 8 figures a year to hire Budenholzer.” An avenue Los Angeles didn’t exactly want to explore. Interestingly, though, amidst all this chaos, another prominent name popped up. The UConn Huskies head coach, Dan Hurley. Funny enough, Anthony F. Irwin of Lakers Daily, tweeted how that contract would look like. And Budenholzer is not going to like that!

“Hearing the offer the Lakers are prepared to make to Hurley his weekend is in the nine figure range. Ballpark of 8 years, ~$100M.“

The 51-year-old Hurley, apparently, was the Lakers’ target since the start of their coaching search. With JJ Redick’s name splashed all over the media, it was quite a shock when Adrian Wojnarowski revealed the news. In fact, Woj further noted on First Take that the Purple & Gold were “relentless” in their pursuit of Dan Hurley. And why wouldn’t they? The man has a resume that speaks for itself.

Having coached the Huskies since 2018, Hurley is in the middle of back-to-back national titles (2023 -’24) and aiming for a three peat. However, it isn’t without its troubles. For one, there is Hurley’s contract with UConn. As reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Sam Vecenie earlier, Dan had signed a six-year $32.1 million contract in 2023. However, there is a clause that has a significant financial impact.

“The contract includes a separate, heavily reduced buyout if Hurley leaves for an NBA head-coaching position — $1.875 million, versus a $7.5 million buyout if he leaves for a college head-coaching job.” If one were to look at this in a positive light, Hurley’s move to the NBA would cost him much less than were he to move to another college. Considering Irwin’s tweet above, $1.9 million for a coach receiving $100 million would be chump change.

But it looks like fans on Twitter aren’t taking too well to the news.

“That’s crazy”: Twitter fans have mixed reaction to the Los Angeles Lakers head coach news

When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers, you must know that there will be a lot of opinions. And this latest news didn’t disappoint either. From shock, doubt, to downright hilarious, X users are having a blast. For example, this passionate Man City and Lakers enthusiast is simply stupefied by the latest Los Angeles move. Well, projected move. Highly likely, though. “That’s crazy for a coach with no NBA experience!” 

Many would disagree, seeing as how the Lakers considered getting JJ as the head coach. The popular broadcaster has no coaching experience whatsoever, and he was still in the top 3 candidates for a prestigious and veteran-filled team. Yes, an NBA landscape is vastly different from a collegiate one. But, given how Hurley has at least college head coaching experience with consecutive national titles definitely makes him a much better prospect.

Another fan page dedicated to Erik Spoelstra decided to leave a GIF to convey their feelings on the matter. And it speaks volumes! All they had was a caption, “100 million.”

Since we are on the topic of Coach Spo, another disbelieving user commented, “Hurley’s getting Spolestra’s salary without ever having coached an NBA game? WOW” Early January this year saw the Heat’s longest-tenured coach agree to an eight-year $120 million deal. Handpicked by the legendary Pat Riley himself, Spoelstra’s contract became the largest in NBA history. While it might be the largest as a whole, there are still coaches who earn more than the annual salary that Spo receives, which is $15 million.

But Spoelstra is in his 27th year with Miami and 16th as the head coach of the same organization. All of them are in the NBA. So, Erik inking $120 million would make more sense. However, Hurley’s 100 million dollars, which is $12.5 million annually, for someone with no NBA coaching experience as the above individual pointed out, can be hard to digest for many. So, this fan’s surprise is understandable. But everyone’s got to start somewhere.

Moving on, another fan, a Knicks and Carmelo one apparently, has a hilarious take. “3 years later “Dan Hurley has been fired.”” A reference to the Lakers’ current streak with their head coaches. No coach since Phil Jackson retired in 2010-11 has ever completed more than 3 seasons with the franchise. So, we can’t really blame fans for putting it out there, either.

Another fan also had similar thoughts. “He’s gone get paid all that just to be the fall guy,” followed by a crying-a-river emoji. The moment that the Purple & Gold’s season started going downhill, the general consensus was that Ham was going to end up taking the blame for it. When he was fired after their playoff exit, the chatter increased, with many roping in LeBron’s “Coach Killer” nickname for good measure. Hence, this is going to be another concern for many, especially given the legendary status he holds at UConn. The Huskies fans wouldn’t want their beloved coach to move to a top dynasty in the NBA only to end up like the seven head coaches before him.

And finally, we have an intriguing take. “8 years… Lakers planning to rebuild.” If James decides to leave Los Angeles, the franchise would have to center their team around the next big man, Anthony Davis. Surrounding him would be a young core including Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Max Christie. But does it have to be so?

Wojnarowski gives the reason as to why the Lakers are left with no choice but to do so. “Because of the roster-building limitations of the new second apron, the ability of big-market teams to construct contending rosters by trading multiple draft picks and young players for a third star player has largely been eliminated,” Woj noted. And that was one of the major points which made Hurley a strong candidate.

The Los Angeles Lakers do have to consider all the possible avenues, don’t they now? So, what do you think? Team Hurley or Bud? Or are you with Redick?

But before you go, be sure to check this video of Leonardo Armato’s take on Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese.

Don’t forget to check back in for more such updates from our ES Fancast!