Coaches around league believe Lakers only gave Frank Vogel a one-year extension

At the conclusion of the Lakers announcing their flurry of opening deals to start free agency was the announcement of an extension for head coach Frank Vogel. It was a well-earned extension only a handful of months removed from an NBA title. However, it was an extension they never came with any reports of its length.

While the team itself never releases details of an extension, the Adrian Wojnarowskis and Shams Charanias of the NBA reporting world often follow up with the details in the aftermath of the announcement. Yet three weeks removed from the extension being handed out and no further details have been reported.

On Friday, veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein released his latest newsletter that included a tidbit about Vogel and his extension.

The Lakers did finally grant Vogel his long overdue contract extension on Aug. 6 to ensure that he would not enter this season as a lame duck with an expiring deal, but the ongoing lack of clarity about the extension specifics has led to the presumption in coaching circles that only one season has been tacked on despite the championship Vogel won in his first season in L.A.

Vogel is one of just seven active head coaches to win an NBA title as a head coach. Nothing about his 2020-21 season should serve as a deterrent to offering him an extension as he took a beaten and bruised Lakers team and had them finish first in the league in defensive rating.

Prior to the extension, Vogel was heading into the final year of his contract. It’s irresponsible for a team to have a lame-duck coach that is one year removed from a title, but it’s hardly more responsible for them to simply tack on one year to his deal.

The Lakers backed their way into finding a quality NBA coach in Vogel, who was the franchise’s third choice in the summer of 2019 following Monty Williams and Ty Lue. And still, the team found a coach that led them to the title. If the extension is for just one year, it’d be a disservice to Vogel and the work he has done in his time in Los Angeles.

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