Lakers plan to interview Tyronn Lue, Monty Williams and Juwan Howard this week
The Lakers received permission to interview Miami assistant coach Juwan Howard and plan to interview Howard, Tyronn Lue and Monty Williams this week, according to people familiar with their plan but not authorized to speak publicly.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka is leading the Lakers’ coaching search and is expected to be the team’s only executive attending these meetings.
Howard was part of the Fab Five at Michigan where he and Pelinka were college teammates. He is also reportedly planning to interview with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Williams is an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers, who are playing the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs. Pelinka plans to travel to meet with Williams this week. The series has a two-day break between Games 2 and 3 that is likely when that meeting will occur, but travel plans are still in flux.
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Lue, who was fired by the Cavaliers in October, has long been considered the front-runner for the job if the Lakers fired Luke Walton. Lue coached LeBron James in Cleveland and became the head coach in January 2016, a few months before the Cavaliers won Cleveland’s first pro sports championship in half a century.
Walton and the Lakers reached a mutual decision to part ways on Friday, and on Saturday he reached an agreement to become the head coach of the Sacramento Kings.
As he moved on, so did the Lakers.
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