12:21pm: The Clippers have officially signed Lue to an extension, the team announced in a press release. In a statement, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank referred to Lue as a “brilliant tactician and a natural leader,” adding that he’s a “pillar of the organization” who will be with the team for a long time.
“This is where I want to be,” Lue said in a statement of his own. “I’ve loved coaching this team for the past four years and I’m excited to head into a new era at Intuit Dome. I’m grateful to (team owner) Steve (Ballmer), Lawrence, and the entire organization for the opportunity. With our ownership, front office, roster, staff, and arena, we have all the advantages we need to win in the present and the future, and I’m confident we will.”
According to Shams Charania and Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link), Lue’s new deal is worth nearly $70MM over five years.
11:02am: The Clippers have reached an agreement with head coach Tyronn Lue on a contract extension, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Lue had been entering the final year of his current contract with the team.
While Wojnarowski doesn’t have specific details on exactly how many years the new contract will cover, he refers to it as a “long-term” extension, which suggests the Clippers have locked up their head coach for at least the next few years. Woj also states that it will make Lue one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches. A number of coaches have signed deals worth more than $10MM per season in recent years, so it seems safe to assume Lue will earn an eight-figure annual salary on his new contract.
Signing Lue to an extension had been one of the Clippers’ top priorities entering a critical offseason. The head coach, who previously led the Cavaliers to a title and two additional NBA Finals appearances, was hired in 2020 and has posted a 184-134 (.579) regular season record across four seasons in Los Angeles, despite dealing with a plethora of injuries to his star players during that time. Lue has a 97-47 record in games that both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have played, notes Wojnarowski.
The Clippers haven’t won a playoff series since reaching the Western Conference finals in 2021, but Lue hasn’t received the blame for those early postseason exits and remains highly regarded by team ownership and management.
Lue’s extension with the Clippers officially takes him off the table as an option for the cross-town Lakers, who are conducting a head coaching search this spring and reportedly coveted Lue, who began his playing career with the Lakers and won two championships with the franchise.
With a new deal for Lue in place, the Clippers will be able to shift their focus to free agency, where George (player option), Russell Westbrook (player option), and James Harden (unrestricted free agent) could all reach the open market in a matter of weeks.
Honest question: is he a good coach? He may be but I have no idea. Could he go to Toronto and make them a winner?
I have watched the Clippers and I still have no idea. The roster is so dysfunctional and there seems to always be a key player on the injured list. Hard to judge the coaching performance on a team that is just as likely to finish in the lottery as they are to win a championship.
But… I thought he did a good job in Cleveland. He navigated the hand grenade that was 2011-2022 Kyrie Irving, and made the most of an awkward roster that was basically a rebuilding team with Irving, Lebron, and Love slapped over it.
I wonder if LBJ is depressed today. He probably wanted him with the Lakers. Does Mark Jackson or JVG ever want to coach again?
does anyone want Mark Jackson (homophobe) to coach again?
why would JVG go back to coaching now?
Yeah, he is. No coach is going to get blood from a stone (except maybe Spo…), talent is still important because there is too much of it out there. But Lue seems to hold players’ respect and has solid defensive plans.
I think he’s above average to good. He’s good with players but I think his lineup changes and in game adjustments are highly questionable. Players like him, but considering it’s a super soft league, not sure if that’s a good measurement. He’s talented, no doubt, but the superlatives of him are vastly overstated. Now comes the better questions. Where does he rank and who’s actually good, deserving that type of contract?
lakers in shambles, nobody left
Going to be JJ
One of the best coaches in the league. He did phenomenal work last a couple of years despite dysfunctional roster and unreliable stars.
Not really. Overpay and over-rated. Without stars very below average.
So much $ spent on everything and everyone for the clippers to never win a title.
Lue is a good coach, he’s not a great coach. Far from it.
Ballmer sure doesn’t have a problem overpaying his team.
Ballmer would have been better off giving more $$ to PG13. Lue is not only a favorite of 2k nation, but also most likely a citizen thereof. But perhaps it’s not about performance, but perception. His players, and other players, look at him at as a colleauge and like him. Ballmer might rationally decide that not overpaying isn’t worth the risk of losing him to the LAL.
Coach salary has nothing to do with player cap so they can and likely will still pay PG13
PG13 can be “maxed” regardless of the player cap as well (Bird Rights). Although there is a luxury tax on PG13’s salary, and not Lue’s.
Never liked this teams makeup. Never really been a fan of its so called stars.