The list of Lakers’ coaching candidates keeps growing.
Another Milwaukee Bucks assistant, Charles Lee, can be added to the list, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Lakers have requested permission to interview Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee for their head coaching job, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 12, 2022
Lee, who played college ball at Bucknell and then played professionally overseas, has spent the last eight seasons as part of Mike Budenholzer’s staffs in Atlanta and Milwaukee. Lee was a finalist for the Wizards job last year.
Lee makes six coaches we know the Lakers have or will interview. The list includes former head coaches Kenny Atkinson (currently a Warriors’ assistant), Mark Jackson and Terry Stotts of Portland. Lee joins the list of top assistant coaches being interviewed, including fellow Bucks assistant Darvin Ham plus Adrian Griffin of the Raptors.
There may be more names; league sources say the Lakers are both casting a wide net and slow playing the first part of the process as they wait to see if other coaches — notably Doc Rivers of Philadelphia — become available. LeBron is rumored to support Jackson, currently a broadcaster for ABC/ESPN, but how strong that support is remains to be seen.
The Lakers fired Frank Vogel after a disappointing season, although the reasons for those struggles lay more at the feet of the front office than the coach. Vogel has interviewed for the open Charlotte Hornets job.
