Woj on Dan Hurley TURNING DOWN the Lakers 🗣️ ‘He wants the UCONN THREE-PEAT!’ | NBA Today

Woj on Dan Hurley TURNING DOWN the Lakers 🗣️ ‘He wants the UCONN THREE-PEAT!’ | NBA Today

Connecticut’s Dan Hurley turned down the Los Angeles Lakers 6-year $70 million offer and will return to chase a third straight national championship that’s what sources told ESPN LA would have made him one of the NBA’s six highest paid coaches so for more on Hurley’s decision let’s welcome in our senior NBA Insider Adrien WJ narowski WJ how exactly did Hurley decide to stay at Yukon here Mika I think perhaps the biggest part for Dan Hurley the timing uh of this you know significant Lakers offer the fact that he’s got a team returning at Yukon that can do something that hasn’t been done since John wooden’s UCLA teams and that’s win a third straight NCA championship and certainly in the end I think that was as big of a factor as any because Dan Hurley his family they were quite taken with the Lakers with the proposal with the vision that Rob palenka jeie bus Lake out for them I think there was a lot of momentum coming out of that meeting uh Friday night into Saturday uh but ultimately Dan Hurley was always going to go back east and think this through a couple days but the Lakers put an offer on the table you know that would have put him you know in the very top Echelon of NBA coaches you talk about top six highest paid at essentially almost $12 million a year the the coaches in front of them you know had won perhaps as many as a dozen championships from Steve Kerr Greg papovich Eric spola Ty Lou and so they were offering Dan Hurley the chance to be in that Stratosphere uh but in the end I don’t think this came down to money he’s going to get a new deal at Yukon uh it won’t be as much as the Lakers deal uh but I think for him a lifelong East Coast guy Jersey City New Jersey college coach at Wagner URI and obviously now at Yukon uh Dan Hurley’s ambition has always been to get to the NBA you I know we talked to especially in the last few days other coaches who made the jump think he had a lot of encouragement to do it if he felt ready but I think the common theme he heard from people was if you still feel like you’ve got things left to do in college you know especially with his Yukon team that might be a reason to stay back and ultimately that’s what Dan Hurley’s done so the Lakers head coaching search it continues with Dan Hurley returning to Yukon w let’s bring in the rest of our panel here cha gum Richard Jefferson holding it down in our Los Angeles Studios Austin and I are beaming in from various parts of the country so Richard what do you think it says about the state of the Lakers that Dan Hurley decided to go back to Yukon to chase that third straight national title well I I I think first that Dan Hurley made the decision based off of what was on the other side not necessarily what was with the Lakers but let me just say this this is not good enough for the Lakers the Lakers can’t have a coach within their grasp and not close the deal that’s what bus was always about when we talk about uh Dr bus it was always about closing the deal whether it was a superstar player whether there was a superstar coach in in uh Phil Jackson and now I look at the last few coaching searches that they had they missed out on tou they didn’t they didn’t couldn’t come to terms with tou for a variety of reasons and I’m going to blame the Lakers on that because I do know some of the things that caused pause then all of a sudden you get a coach and he wins a championship and then you fire him then you get a coach that goes to the conference finals and then you fire him and now you have a coach within your grasp and you’re not able to pull it off at the end of the day this is not who the Lakers are the Lakers are a team that see what they want they go get it I understand that he didn’t take the job but now the Lakers are in a very very difficult position with time running out before the draft and it’s looking more messy in my opinion that they weren’t able to get it done yeah I agree Richard the Lakers they had a plan and it was a beautiful plan for some time but it definitely backfired here because I think one thing maybe Coley maybe re recognized which all coaches in the NBA recognize is that nobody is necessarily safe despite their success as Richard said hey you can go to the Western Conference Finals you can uh lose to the defending champs and that’s still not good enough because there’s an expectation for a championship each and every year when you are with the Lakers or even potentially with the Boston Celtics and that’s a problem that does not provide necessarily the security also especially when you have things left you want to do in college where maybe potentially Yukon can use this to match or up his own offer in that regard and last but not least if you think about the Lakers this would be their eighth head coach since 2010 there’s not stability and the goal is to build that but you can’t be like if you’re going off of the last few years how do you believe in that if you’re you’re trying to make the decision yourself one element of that guys is the I don’t know that was as much of a concern for Dan Hurley because of the years on the contract because of the money and the fact that the Lakers sold him on the idea that they were this was a chance for all of them to do something different to build a program out that they wanted Dan Hurley’s program I don’t think it was the idea that the expectation was going to be had to win a championship in the next year that this was a team um that it was all or nothing in terms of his job security I don’t think that’s I think what appealed to Hurley was the idea of coming in and what the Lakers were selling him on get Max Christie better get Austin Reeves better get your younger players improved and certainly you’re trying to win with Anthony Davis with LeBron James uh but I I think ultimately it was more about what Dan Hurley had at Yukon and the timing of this decision you know he saw Billy Donovan take the Orlando job then come back then win two national championships have more to do at Florida before he finally left for Oklahoma City uh but I think for Hurley uh I think the Lakers made a compelling case and when you look at what he was offered you know almost $1 million a year that was more than double what he was making at Yukon he’ll get up higher among the elite in college basketball but there was never a case I was told in the last few days where Dan Hurley said hey if you hit this number I’m conf uh because you can’t negotiate necessarily against yourself and so I think uh that was a big part of it uh not so much the money not so much I think the fear that this was going to be a quick hook Rob pinka was putting himself out there uh with a college coach Rob Pena had to make sure this worked I think he certainly would have put a lot of pressure on himself but they saw Hurley as a unicorn candidate I I don’t know that there was a number that Hurley was necessarily chasing uh he was going to make a lot of money at either place I I think it had to do more with the timing I mean listen the Lakers are under the gun here just due to the fact that they’re not just trying to go out there and find a coach on the market they’re trying to poach somebody already you know established somewhere else you know like w said there was never a number in mind that you know they could get to he would leave this is coming off a back-to-back national champions uh it’s it’s this is this is this is where we’re at with the Lakers so you know I don’t know where they go from here um you know but there’s not a lot of people available even right now on the market that you can look at and be like hey he’s the guy [Music]

Adrian Wojnarowski joins Malika Andrews on NBA Today to detail UConn Huskies head men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley turning down the Los Angeles Lakers’ 6-year/$70 million offer. Then, Chiney Ogwumike, Richard Jefferson and Austin Rivers weigh in with their thoughts on the deal falling through.

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