Quin Snyder responds to rumors linking him to Lakers as head coach

As rare as in-season coaching rumors are, specifically when it comes to looking a current coach to another job — as was the case when Quin Snyder was linked to the Lakers job earlier this week — but it’s even rarer for a coach to directly address those rumors.

In response to longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein stating that Snyder could be an option for the Lakers or Spurs this summer, Snyder spoke with Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune about the rumors.

“To be honest, having to address this type of question in any form, in my view, is disrespectful to the teams that are mentioned themselves,” Snyder said. “I think specifically, these types of discussions are also disrespectful to coaches. And I love the guys that I coach. I love these players. And frankly, my focus is on our guys and our team. And as I said, addressing hypotheticals in these types of questions in any form I feel like is disrespectful. And that’s how I would characterize that.”

This is pretty par for the course when it comes to coaches protecting one another. Essentially, this reads like Snyder toeing the party line when it comes to head coaches in the league to ensure it doesn’t look like he’s angling for the Lakers job in any way.

Part of the reason for the belief that Snyder could be attainable this summer is the lack of clarity on his contract status with the Jazz. Snyder also addressed that...by not clarifying it at all.

“I’ve never talked about my contract from day one, and I’m not going to,” he said. “That’s not something that I’m going to comment on now, nor at any point in the future. That’s not something that the Jazz have done. I personally don’t want to or believe in getting into public contract discussions.”

Realistically, if Snyder was ever going to make a public comment, it was going to be something like this. It’s interesting that he chose to make a comment, but ultimately it doesn’t change anything about the situation in the long term. Coaching jobs in the NBA are space and if Snyder loses his with the Jazz, he’s not going to turn down a potential opportunity for one with the Lakers or another NBA team.

Consider this all just posturing from Snyder to ensure his relationship with Vogel and other coaches around the league and to make sure he doesn’t burn any bridges with the Jazz while he may still need to stand on them while he’s still employed by the franchise. But down the line, if he is indeed fired this summer, the Lakers should and will remain a possibility.

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