LOS ANGELES • The Los Angeles Lakers will bring in both Tyronn Lue and Monty Williams for second interviews this week, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Lue, the former Cleveland Cavaliers coach, met general manager Rob Pelinka last Friday, while Philadelphia assistant Williams was interviewed earlier in the week.
Unlike those interviews, team owner Jeanie Buss is expected to be on hand for the follow-ups.
In his three seasons playing for the Lakers up to 2001, Lue won two NBA championships with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant under head coach Phil Jackson.
The Lakers fired coach Luke Walton on April 12 after three seasons and a 98-148 record.
Lue, who previously served as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Cavaliers, became head coach in Cleveland during the 2015-16 season after David Blatt was fired.
The Cavaliers won their first National Basketball Association title that season and reached the NBA Finals the next two years, losing to Golden State.
With LeBron James departed for the Lakers, the Cavaliers started the 2018-19 season at 0-6 and Lue was fired. Lue, who turns 42 next month, had a 128-83 record with Cleveland.
Lue's relationship with James could be a factor as the Lakers seek to revive the franchise after missing the play-offs for a record sixth straight season. However, the New York Times reported that "some in the Lakers' organisation may fear hiring Lue would be giving LeBron too much control".
Meanwhile, after spending the previous two seasons in the San Antonio Spurs' front office following the 2016 death of his wife, Ingrid, Williams got back into coaching as Brett Brown's top assistant with the 76ers. He was head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans from 2010 to 2015, compiling a 173-221 record. His teams reached the play-offs in 2011 and 2015.
He was also an assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers and, later, the Oklahoma City Thunder, which he left as associate head coach in the aftermath of his wife's death and relocated with his children to San Antonio, where his extended family lives.
REUTERS
