NBA Rumors: Is Lebron James going to cost the Los Angeles Lakers a shot at pulling Doc Rivers away from LAC?
One the best stories of the season thus far has been the performance of the Los Angeles Clippers who, despite their lack of star power, are destined for a playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Clippers are currently 12 games over .500, and will be one of the prime landing spots for free agents come this summer.
Couple the job that Doc Rivers has done with the Clippers with the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers will likely be in the market for a new head coach, and it’s easy to begin to draw the line from Rivers to joining LeBron.
In a recent episode of ESPN’s PTI, Michael Wilbon stated that people are warning that LeBron doesn’t want to be coached at this point in his career and making a move to the Lakers would end up being more of a headache than perhaps Rivers needs.
Apart from the whole “does LeBron even want to be coached” fiasco, there is the argument to be made that perhaps the Clippers are a better option over the next few years for Rivers than the Lakers are.
Even more so if they’re able to land a big fish this summer, such as Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard who have both been linked to potentially joining the Clippers over the last few weeks and months.
However, that’s a big if. One that has often burned teams in the past – including the Lakers, who have missed out on a few big-name free agents over the last few seasons – including Paul George this past summer.
If the Clippers were to miss out on one of the big names set to hit the open market, would it immediately impact Rivers’ desire to continue with the franchise? It’s an interesting question that hopefully the Clippers won’t have to answer this summer, but one that all parties involved should definitely be prepared to discuss.