APRIL 11: The Lakers have informed Vogel he has been relieved of his duties, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The team put out a press release formally confirming the move.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Frank both on and off the court,” Pelinka said in a statement. “Frank is a great coach and a good man. We will forever be grateful to him for his work in guiding us to the 2019/20 NBA championship. This is an incredibly difficult decision to make, but one we feel is necessary at this point. All of us here wish Frank and his wonderful family all the best for the future.”
Vogel’s assistants haven’t been let go at this time, tweets ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
APRIL 10: Frank Vogel has coached his final game for the Lakers, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter).
The decision – which has been viewed as a foregone conclusion for weeks, if not months – is expected to be shared with Vogel as soon as Monday, says Wojnarowski. According to Woj, the team’s search for a replacement will be “lengthy and expansive,” with no clear frontrunner at this point.
Asked about the report during his postgame press conference after Sunday’s win over Denver, Vogel confirmed that he hasn’t yet been given the official word on his ouster.
“I haven’t been told s–t and I’m gonna enjoy tonight’s game,” he said, per Bill Oram of The Athletic (Twitter link). “… We’ll deal with tomorrow tomorrow.”
Formerly a head coach in Indiana and Orlando, Vogel was hired by the Lakers in 2019 to replace Luke Walton. Vogel, who appeared to be a fallback option after the club missed out on targets like Monty Williams and Tyronn Lue, only received a three-year contract, but quickly made a strong impression in Los Angeles by leading the Lakers to a title in his first season at the helm.
Vogel’s second and third seasons in L.A. weren’t as successful, as the Lakers dealt with more frequent injury woes. The team went 42-30 in 2020/21 and earned a playoff spot via the play-in tournament, but was dispatched in six games by Phoenix in the first round. This season, the Lakers went just 33-49 and missed out entirely on the play-in tournament.
Vogel received a contract extension prior to the 2021/22 season, but it only tacked one year onto his initial deal with the team, which wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.
Given Los Angeles’ disappointing performance this season, Vogel has spent much of the year on the hot seat. A report in January indicated that the Lakers came close to firing him at that point, when the team was at .500 (22-22). L.A. posted a disastrous record 11-27 the rest of the way, but ultimately decided to wait until after the regular season to make a change.
One recent report indicated that Jazz coach Quin Snyder and/or Sixers coach Doc Rivers could be candidates for the Lakers’ coaching vacancy if they become available this offseason. Another report mentioned Michigan’s Juwan Howard as a possible target. More names figure to be linked to the position once Vogel is officially let go.
LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Lakers VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka are all scheduled to speak to reporters on Monday as part of the Lakers’ exit interviews, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Vogel’s dismissal figures to be a popular topic of conversation during that media session.
The sky is blue.
The grass is greener.
Can Doc Rivers fit Westbrook’s defense and shooting?
That is all I need to know.
Lakers are not winning any championships with current Westbrook.
Fit it! Everything is green!
Frank Vogel is a much better playoffs coach than Doc Rivers.
He can replace Doc Rivers.
Why not make a good trade?
Rivers for Vogel
Actually a pretty good idea. I’d probably do that.
He is the fall guy in the lakers disaster. Poor roster construction, and some injuries. Honestly it was doomed from the start.
It comes with the territory. He should have been let go at the All Star Break. Pelinka is next. Then Westbrook and most of the players.
Unfortunately the guy most responsible for this disaster gets to keep his job.
Lost a lot of respect for LeBron after this train wreck of a season. He’s the one who brought in players like Westbrook, a guy any coach has to walk on egg shells with, and to be truthful, he’s the one who largely phoned it all in weeks ago. His play, his comments about the team and his future….disappointing at best
On one hand, I feel sorry for Vogel or any coach short of a Riley or Jackson trying to manage this bunch. On the other, he was on auto-pilot during the championship run
Brutal business and the idea of “coaching” malcontents and me-first players needs some new definitions
A questionable new poster suggests he used to respect Lebron but now he does not. BS. That is just a sly drive-by insulter probably motivated by race. Couple more on this page that are less involved.
It is easy to legitamately not like James but it takes more than BB disfavor to create a new username and post long.
Lmao. Motivated by race? Get help dude.
People slamming lebron has nothing to do with race.
You don’t know to say one way or another, why be so sure? There are non-BB reasons James gets blowback, even on a BB site. There are clues, a couple of which I mentioned. The supposed losing of respect is a rhetorical device when it was never present.
Those Lakers guys would be liars if they talking in private is different from talking in public.
All we need is 100% transparency and 100% straight forward.
Pelinka and James need to be fired as well.
LeBron player/coach time ?
I thought the league had a rule against that now ? Something to do with players association.
Lol. LeGM need fires too!
The fact pelinka is gonna keep his job when he put this roster together is ridiculous. Vogel is a defensive coach and they literally gave him the worst personal possible
LeBronze had a big hand into that roster. Remember when Lebronze, AD and Westbrick were at someone’s house all smoking cigars!
Coaches run their course with Lebron it happens. Vogel got a championship and can hang his hat on that. He will have another job next off season.
He did a terrible job trying to incorporate Westbrook. And I’m not saying Westbrook is a super star. But you need to scheme things better for him.
This big 3 of AD, Lebron, Westbrook could work with the right players around them.
It was reported yesterday that Westbrook disapproved of the game plan Vogel had during the preseason and became problematic immediately. I think that Pelinka is the ultimate problem here after dismantling the team two off seasons in a row but Vogel should’ve put his foot down instantly and set the tone.
AD spend more time in street clothes this season than he did on the court
How do you develop a scheme to incorporate Westbrick? The dude can’t be coached, illustrated by the fact that he demanded to take the ball up court always. The only thing Westbrick cares about is triple doubles. He’s not a winner.
Westbrick will never work in LA. If they run it back, they’ll likely be worse with LeBron being another year older.
Heres a scapegoat if I’ve ever seen one. Handed this man a ticking pile of garbage, and said “Go! Make something happen!”
Shame on the Lakers organization. They haven’t been an intelligent, basketball IQ positive organization for some time now, decades literally. They simply rely on their pleasant climate and the ‘Lakers’ brand to poach talent that other teams with real basketball programs have cultivated and developed, whether that talent be in the form of players, coaches, or other team personnel.
Also, a big LOL at the Nick Nurse/Lakers rumor, incase it ever makes this site. Nick Nurse is made for a certain type of team, a team which the Lakers certainly are not. Nick Nurse coaching the Lakers would be like driving a brand new Ferrari to a homeless shelter. The Lakers need Bob Knight, or Coach Carter to coach that team full of misfits. They don’t need Nick Nurse, loll.
Vogel has a good share of the blame for this horrendous season ……. vets just did not buy into his passive coaching.
But yes, Lakers as an organization just don’t work “hard enough” as other organizations (IIRC Hollinger has an excellent article on this, some years back) …….. yes, it’s usually and mostly bought not built.
It would be quite a stretch if Nurse leaves his situation in Toronto – he has a whole country at his back, not to mention Masai is among the best at his job.
Quin Snyder and Sam Presti enter the chat…
You think LeBronze wants to wait a few years for Presti to draft a bunch of good players?
About time, way too little way too late… that should have happened in November or beginning of December at the latest to save the season, now… season has been lost by keeping the HC way too long, as many teams do!
Anyone else recall that Bubble Finals Gm 5, when Lebron was called for an early foul (no points involved) & that he demanded that Vogel issue a coach’s challenge.
Vogel challenged the call which was promptly upheld, Lakers lose a timeout, something which played a huge part in the last possession of that game, which the Lakers lost.
ESPN’s Tim Legler was the only one who called out that early challenge – Legler went on to rant that any other coach would not have issued a challenge that early (moreso, there wasn’t points involved) to please Lebron.
Finals win aside, it showed that Vogel was the kind of coach that Lebron can just walk-over and supersede.
Two disaster seasons later, Lebron’s GM work has backfired on him, Vogel is exposed as a coach that didn’t enjoy the full respect of his vets.
The bad thing going for Vogel, the MAGIC learned their lesson and won’t be hiring Vogel anytime soon.
The good thing going for Vogel, the KINGS are always hiring.
I love Juwan Howard.. I hope to god he stays as far away from the Lakers franchise as humanly possible. If I’m a coach with any pull at all.. I tell these people if you want me.. I get control of the front office. If they aren’t willing.. wouldn’t touch that toxic hell of a franchise for at least 10+ years
Does LeBron decide to leave as well?
He has two to three years max. He wants to play with his son in the NBA but his son is not considered a great prospect currently. Some rankings have him outside of the top 40 in his grade level. On top of that he is at best the fourth best player on his HS team next year.
I would not be surprised to see him leave LA to put his son in a better position at another HS.
As it currently stands his son would be at best a mid second round pick if he were to be a one and done in college.
…. which would put him in the nba. Many second rounders make it – and they aren’t even LeBron James’ son!
Bronny will play in the league.
Clean out the front office !!
LOL. Yes, it must be the Coach. Couldn’t be the fossils they are putting out on the floor. They made a deal with the devil for the CoVid championship and now it’s time to pay up like all the other franchises. They’ll try again to piece it together but it won’t work. Simply delaying the inevitable. Full rebuild mode is coming for the Hollywood Fakers.
Pelinka might be the worst GM in the entire NBA. He just got lucky that LeBron chose LA.
He got lucky Kobe was his client too.
This isn’t Vogels fault, But yes Pelinkas terrible decisions. Too many divas on a team.
Rob Lowe should go as well. That trade for Westbrook was a square peg in a round hole.
LBJ is a cancer on any team. The Lakers would have done themselves a favor by dumping him instead of the coach.
Here’s a trade to get out of Westbrook
Lakers get: Evan Fournier, Derrick Rose, and Kelly Olynyk.
Knicks get: Westbrook
Pistons get: Kemba Walker
Knicks and Pistons get salary relief sooner.
Lakers get depth and better shooting than Westbrook offers.
I don’t want more vets . We need picks and younger guys . No one want no knees walker . Why would the pistons do that?
Kemba is on a 1 year deal and can be bought out.
Pistons clear cap room to sign guys if they so choose.
Did him dirty. But they’re also stuck with Westbrook and need someone who v can maximize whatever this roster is.
The way tht and monk played we would of been better off with them at point. They were too scared to trade Russ for wall . So we got stuck with this .
Lakers are quite the embarrassment. Jeannie should be ashamed for all the drama.
Is LeBeon gonna be the coach now? This team has so many problems.
Wrong guy got fired in all this.
Big frank fan. He doesn’t deserve this. You can’t tell me he the whole problem. Part of the problem sure I can see that . But the way the team was ran from the min they got a ring he was doom . Last year was boom or bust if ad and lebron were healthy. This year who thought a 30+ team was a good idea .
Everyone acting like Lakers did him dirty. They’re doing him a favor. He keeps his money and gets to go coach somewhere else. No other organization is going to see it as a firing, so his reputation is intact.
If you thought this was a tough year to coach the Lakers, imagine the mess of next year…
Wow this guy not to far removed from chip, I guess it is what have you done for me lately.
Pelinka gotta go too! More than Vogel had to!
Lebron said the season wasn’t a failure. OK.
Kenny Atkinson would be my pick. And drop Pelinka
Vogel was one of the few real basketball coaches left in the NBA. I guess it doesn’t really matter in a league where the people doing the hiring and firing really don’t understand what coaching is and isn’t. Then again, he knew what he was signing up for, and, I’m sure, will be well paid for the exercise.
Man, is sickening all the hate that is thrown at LBJ in this site, I just wish only hoops fans were allowed to comment, obviously all the haters can’t be hoops fans, you can’t hate the GOAT & be a true fan, really it makes one feel awful with all the hate in here!
Also wish the moderators would put a stop to all of that, instead they just remove comments that don’t much with their views, allowing this site to be a place of hate, go figure!