Lakers Fire Mike Brown; Considering D’Antoni?

1:54pm: The Lakers have officially sent out a press release announced their decision to dismiss Brown.

"This was a difficult and painful decision to make," said GM Mitch Kupchak. "Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change at this time. We appreciate Mike’s efforts and contributions and wish him and his family the best of luck."

Meanwhile, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets that the Lakers will ditch the Princeton offense, which was a major factor in the team's decision to replace Brown.

12:36pm: Bernie Bickerstaff will coach tonight's game for the Lakers, but the team will conduct a national search for Brown's replacement, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game tweets that one candidate, Mike D'Antoni, recently had knee surgery and is laid up for six weeks. According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports though, that wouldn't stop D'Antoni from taking the job if the Lakers wanted him (Twitter link).

12:27pm: The Lakers have "made it clear" that buying out the remaining $11MM+ on Brown's contract and investing in a new coach won't be an issue, says Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).

12:19pm: A Lakers assistant, likely either Bernie Bickerstaff or Chuck Person, is expected to assume the head coaching reins on an interim basis, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Ken Berger of CBS Sports also throws Steve Clifford's name into the mix, though he says Person has the edge (Twitter link).

12:15pm: Mike D'Antoni has been a "prominent name" discussed by the Lakers as they consider Brown's replacement, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

12:02pm: The Lakers have fired head coach Mike Brown, a source tells Sam Amick of USA Today. Brown's agent Warren LeGarie confirms to Amick that the Lakers head coach has been dismissed.

A report earlier today suggested that a poor showing on the Lakers' upcoming homestand would jeopardize Brown's job. However, after a 1-4 start to the season, the 42-year-old won't even receive the opportunity to coach the first of the team's six upcoming home games tonight against the Warriors.

The move comes less than 48 hours after Brown received the "dreaded" vote of confidence from executive VP Jim Buss, who suggested the team would exercise patience when evaluating the coach's performance. While a new coach has yet to be named, it doesn't seem as if the Lakers would make such a move without a replacement in mind, as Zach Lowe of Grantland tweets.

The decision to let Brown go just five games into the season comes as something of a shock — despite the early-season struggles, I would have guessed the Lakers would give Brown at least another week or two to right the ship. And Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (via Twitter) that GM Mitch Kupchak was pushing ownership to do just that, encouraging the team to give Brown more time before firing him. However, making an change early in the year rather than waiting until later in the season should give the players plenty of time to adjust to the new coach's system and style.

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