National Basketball Association

Lakers expected to part ways with Frank Vogel, new candidates emerge

Published Apr. 6, 2022 3:58 p.m. ET

There's a good chance Frank Vogel won't be the Los Angeles Lakers' head coach next season.

According to several sources, the Lakers are expected to part ways with Vogel this offseason. While he has enjoyed success in Los Angeles since being named the team's head coach back in 2019, Vogel's recent run with the Lakers has been anything but successful.

Despite coming into the season with championship aspirations after acquiring Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and other veterans to supplement LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers are crawling to the finish line, primed to end the campaign nearly 20 games under the .500 mark.

Several of those players have been the recipients of finger-pointing for the abysmal showing, but when a franchise undergoes this magnitude of disappointment, the head coach is inevitably part of the conversation.

This leaves Vogel stuck on the losing end of the stick, and quite possibly packing his bags for another destination in the near future.

And according to reports, the Lakers has already begun evaluating candidates who could take the reins.

Rumored candidates include Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers and Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder.

Their names were originally divulged by Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer, who reported:

"Doc Rivers, the Philadelphia 76ers’ head coach, is another active bench leader being mentioned by league personnel as a potential Lakers candidate. Rivers’ tenure in Philadelphia has also come into question of late, spurred by team president Daryl Morey’s deadline acquisition of James Harden and the mounting speculation that followed about a potential reunification with Harden’s former Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni.

"Rivers has also been linked by several league sources as a potential replacement for the Jazz, in the event Snyder does depart Utah. Rivers was the head coach in Boston from 2004 to 2013 under current Jazz CEO Danny Ainge."

Chris Broussard believes Vogel's departure is already a forgone conclusion but dismissed Rivers as a potential Lakers candidate.

"If Doc is available, it means he failed again," Broussard stated Wednesday on "First Things First."

"The Sixers are a championship team, supposedly. If he's available, that means they either lost in the first round, second round. It will be the second straight time, not year but time, he underachieved. It was the Clippers, then Sixers. Not to mention the three 3-1 blown leads."

Kevin Wildes was equally unimpressed.

"My reaction was ‘huh? Doc Rivers and Quin Snyder?'" Wildes said.

"Teams that are getting ready for the playoffs, all of a sudden it's rumored they might be the coach for the Lakers? They are not the answer. I wanted to get rid of Quin [in Utah] after Ty Lue out-coached him and they lost to a Kawhi-less Clippers team."

Shannon Sharpe agreed that Vogel's firing was imminent, but revealed his own suggestion for a candidate the Lakers should be reaching out to.

"Unfortunately, Frank Vogel is going to lose his job because this team is poorly constructed," Sharpe stated on "Undisputed."

"He had no say in the construction of this team and he wasn't given the best pieces to fit together in order to make this a successful run. Maybe they just need to hear a different voice. I want Mark Jackson interviewed first, Mike Brown interviewed second. Mike Brown has a history with LeBron, they went to the Finals, had a 66-16 record one year. That man didn't forget how to coach. He was the foundation of the Golden State Warriors."

Lakers are expected to part ways with head coach Frank Vogel I UNDISPUTED

Reports say that Coach Frank Vogel will be on his way out of Los Angeles, with names like Sixers coach Doc Rivers and Utah’s Quin Snyder emerging as candidates to replace him.

The main difference between this Lakers team and several of Vogel's other groups has been defense.

Vogel's long been known for his brilliant defensive strategies. He guided the Indiana Pacers to back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals (2012-13, 2013-14). His Indiana squad also finished third in defensive rating during the 2015-16 season.

In Los Angeles, the 2019-20 Lakers finished third in defensive rating at 106.3, while they upped their production the following season, vaulting to the league's top spot in 2020-21, with a 107.1 rating. But this season, they've been mediocre at best, currently sitting 21st league-wide with a 113.2 defensive rating.

And unfortunately for Vogel, he might have to flash his own defensive tactics, as he vies for a coaching position in the weeks and months to come.