Lakers reportedly expected to target ‘experienced’ candidates, interested in Jason Kidd

After failing with a first-time head coach, the Lakers are expected to target an experienced candidate, including current Mavs coach Jason Kidd.

The Lakers are ones who love to overreact.

When the Suns bounced them out of the playoffs in 2021 in completely explainable, if not unfortunate, circumstances, they blew up the team for Russell Westbrook. When they fired Frank Vogel, an experienced, championship-winning coach, they hired a first-timer.

And now, after firing that first-timer, you’re never going to believe what the Lakers do next.

Late Friday night, Dave McMenamin of ESPN appeared on SportsCenter to discuss several topics, including whether he thinks the pendulum will swing back toward an experienced candidate.

Also very interesting in that video is McMenamin talking about specific candidates and naming Jason Kidd, a name who has not been mentioned yet.

The ties are obvious: Kidd was an assistant under Vogel on the title-winning staff. He’s also very close to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, having played with them on the 2012 Olympics team.

That being said, Kidd is in a really comfy situation right now himself. He already has two superstars on his team in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. He has a roster that complements those stars and is in the second round of the playoffs.

Why would he leave that for the Lakers? He has no connection to the franchise outside of being an assistant coach. Luka is one of the top superstars of the next generation while the Lakers’ superstars are aging.

Outside of Kidd, the other interesting name mentioned as a real candidate, again, is JJ Redick. While it’s still early on, it appears he’s going to be a rather legitimate candidate.

Redick’s name keeps coming up, and not as some sort of novelty consideration, but as one of the top names mentioned. In this instance, being mentioned with Kidd and Lue — who has since shot down the reports linking him to the Lakers — means he’s certainly someone who is getting plenty of traction early on.

That also contradicts the Lakers reportedly preferring an experienced candidate. No one should be ruled out based on one aspect and if Redick turns out to be the best candidate despite not being experienced, then they should make the move.

But, boy, this is already shaping up to be another weird coaching search.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.