Tyronn Lue celebrated his birthday with a Lakers cake

The Lakers continue to insist on their own deliberate timeline when it comes to hiring a new head coach, but everyone else involved in the process doesn’t seem to have the same level of patience.

First, the Phoenix Suns swiped away Monty Williams while Los Angeles was still interviewing candidates. Now Tyronn Lue — or at least those closest to him — is sort of publicly acknowledging that he has the job.

At his 42nd birthday party in Vegas, Lue was presented with a cake affixed with a large Lakers logo along with the caption, “Happy Birthday Coach”. Lue is well within his rights to expect to be named head coach within the near future, but according to the reporting from TMZ, he neither confirmed nor denied the claims made by the cake.

TMZ’s report also provided a few more details about the party:

Ty laughed when the cake was brought out — but we’re told he never really said anything to dispute the insinuation he’s gonna be the next coach of the Lakers.

So, either his pals were just trying to get a laugh ... or they all know something that hasn’t “officially” been reported yet.

Lue clearly has a good set of friends here. They went basketball-themed with the cake for the NBA lifer, something that appears to have been decided well before the Lakers paraphernalia was attached, and seem to have a good sense of humor about the whole process. The only indication that this Lakers gag wasn’t a last-minute addition is the gold strip at the bottom of the cake, which doesn’t really fit with the marble coloring.

Also, if anyone could enlighten me as to why there are eight candles, it would be much appreciated. The vagaries of how adults decide how many candles to put on a birthday cake are still quite confusing.

Let’s hope Lue enjoyed his birthday as much as he clearly enjoyed this cake, or at least its visual presentation. He theoretically has a long year ahead of him, and he might not have as much free time for parties once the offseason comes to a close, so he should savor this fun until the real work begins.

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