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The first name has reportedly come off the board in coaching free agency as the Sacramento Kings will reportedly hire former Lakers and Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. On top of being a former Lakers coach, Brown was also a rumored candidate for the franchise’s coaching vacancy this offseason as well.
Brown and Kings negotiated deal over the past 24 hours, sources said. Brown emerged in recent days as the focus of franchise’s search and now he’s tasked with helping to end the organization’s 16-year playoff drought.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 8, 2022
Sacramento chooses Mike Brown over Mark Jackson, longtime favorite of Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, saving face for the front office after days of reports that Brown was management's preferred choice and that Ranadive wanted the ESPN analyst.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 8, 2022
More NBA: https://t.co/LGN9cV7Dif https://t.co/NhKTTKXi1I
Brown was initially mentioned as a candidate for the Lakers opening by Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report in early April before Frank Vogel had even been hired. He was later mentioned by Dan Woike of the LA Times as well.
However, as the Lakers’ search has heated up to a number of interviews over the last week, Brown’s name has not been mentioned as a candidate that received one. The Lakers, though, reportedly intend on interviewing a number of candidates over Zoom, so it was possible they had already or were planning on interviewing Brown.
The Lakers are conducting their initial wave of interviews over Zoom. They anticipate interviewing 8-10 candidates. Coaches are speaking with Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, Kurt Rambis, Jesse Buss and Joey Buss https://t.co/LMOJ2aePcH
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 7, 2022
The biggest impact of Brown coming off the table is not necessarily him being unavailable but who it leaves still available in Jackson. A very divisive and polarizing candidate, Jackson has been interviewed by the Lakers and has a very, very big supporter within the franchise in LeBron James. Many — myself included — feel Jackson is a woefully underqualified candidate but, at the same time, Jackson was voted second in our SB Nations Reacts poll of who fans wanted as the next head coach.
As for Brown, while he is a quality candidate and one that could do a decent job in Sacramento, he never felt like someone who was getting serious interest from the Lakers and for decent reason. His last tenure didn’t end on the greatest of notes and the team has many other candidates they’re targeting to land the position above him.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
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