NBA Rumors: Lakers Still Holding Out Hope For Doc Rivers

Word spread late last week that the Los Angeles Lakers have narrowed their head coaching search to three finalists. But according to well-connected NBA Insider Marc Stein, the Lakers haven't yet given up on landing another big-name coach who'd be quite familiar with the Los Angeles market.

The Lakers “have not completely abandoned hope” that Doc Rivers will become available to hire this summer, per @TheSteinLine pic.twitter.com/afL4NfcOA8

— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) May 23, 2022

Stein says that the Lakers "have not completely abandoned hope" that Rivers could, somehow, unexpectedly become available. 

This would definitely be a surprise, given the vote of confidence that Philadelphia 76ers GM Daryl Morey gave Rivers in their season-ending exit interviews. 

Rivers coached the team down the hall from the Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, for seven seasons up through 2020, though he had the same kind of success there as he's having in Philadelphia (i.e. very good regular seasons, disappointing playoff exits). 

Aside from the Lakers three supposed finalists for the head coaching job—Terry Stotts, Kenny Atkinson and Darvin Ham—Stein says that pool could still be expanded to include assistant coaches Charles Lee and Adrian Griffin, as well as the longshot of Rivers.

Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports