While a report of the Lakers retaining Mike D’Antoni for next season may have been premature, Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News tweets that the Lakers have been leaning toward keeping the coach for a month. Here’s more on the coaching front:
- In a series of tweets, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders says Lakers brass are partial to D’Antoni because of the way he handled young players this season. Kyler thinks that the Lakers have “kicked the tires” on other named possibilities, but have determined that there are no hires that would be a guaranteed upgrade.
- A source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that D’Antoni hopes to meet with the Lakers next week in regards to his fate, but no date has been set (Twitter link).
- Steve Kerr will likely meet with Knicks president Phil Jackson this weekend to discuss New York’s head coaching job, per Peter Botte and Frank Isola of New York Daily News. Kerr is in town to broadcast the Nets/Raptors game on Sunday.
- Kerr would be open to discussing a job with the Warriors, should Golden State act on their rumored preference for Kerr over Mark Jackson, a league source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post.