Hornets interviewed former Lakers coach Frank Vogel for coaching job

With the Lakers and Charlotte Hornets being the only teams left with no head coach, the search for a new one continues. Both teams have been linked to some of the same names over the past few weeks, a few of which they’ve already interviewed and/or requested to talk to. But if there’s a candidate the Hornets know the Lakers won’t go after, it’s the latter team’s former head coach that they only fired a month ago: Frank Vogel.

And according to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, the Hornets are progressing with their coaching search and are considering Vogel, who they recently sat down to interview.

Fischer’s latest news on the Hornets could actually mean quite a few things for the Lakers. For one, Darvin Ham — who drew interest from both teams — could still be available for Los Angeles. Second, the Hornets potentially hiring Vogel could dismiss them as a possible Russell Westbrook trade partner because as we all know, the relationship between the coach and the player was... not the best.

So that’s something to look out for as the Hornets make their next few moves. Meanwhile, on the Lakers’ side of things, they continue to remain patient in pursuit of their next leader. Aside from Ham and a few other names, the latest intel on the purple and gold is that they reportedly requested to interview Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee.

Lee is the 13th name to be linked with the Lakers’ head coaching search — not including Mike Brown, who the Kings hired this week — and the fifth current active assistant coach the team has interviewed.

Unlike the Hornets, there have been no reports about the Lakers winding down their search or getting past the interview stage, so it seems they are still keeping their options open. And with more teams being eliminated from the playoffs (ahem, Doc Rivers) there’s likely a chance that their patient approach continues, at least until they get to talk to everyone they’ve been waiting to talk to.

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