The Lakers know their fans and Kobe Bryant aren’t sold on Mike D’Antoni, but with the team’s free agency focus on 2015, they’re hesitant to bring on a new coach who might not mesh with the players they target then, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding writes. They’re also not sure that D’Antoni has performed poorly enough to warrant his dismissal, Ding adds, suggesting assistant Kurt Rambis as a possible replacement if D’Antoni is ousted.
More from out west:
- Xavier Henry will indeed miss the rest of the season, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com confirms.
- Wolves owner Glen Taylor said on WCCO-AM that he doesn’t want president of basketball operations Flip Saunders to coach the team if Rick Adelman doesn’t return next season, notes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). Saunders was reticent to address the issue in an appearance with Dan Berreiro on KFAN-FM today, but he said that he enjoys his front office work, according to Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter).
- Wolves forward Dante Cunningham was arrested on Thursday and was today formally charged with domestic assault. This will certainly have a negative impact on the pending free-agent’s options, writes Zach Harper of CBSSports.com. Cunningham is averaging 6.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 19.5 minutes this season. He’s in the final year of his contract, which pays him $2.1 MM. He was jailed and not with the team as it traveled to Florida for a two-game road trip.His attorney’s office said it’s possible that he posts bail of $40,000 this weekend.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
It’s too bad to hear that about Dante. The guy is a hustle player.