Frank Vogel, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2020 NBA Championship, has been coaching his final game for the organization, a decision he is expected to be told as early as Monday, sources told ESPN.
The Lakers’ search for his replacement is expected to be extensive and drawn out – without a clear front runner, sources said.
The Lakers ended a disappointing 33-49 season with a 146-141 overtime win at the Denver Nuggets on Sunday after being eliminated from Tuesday’s play-in tournament.
Vogel, who signed an original three-year deal in 2019 and was given a one-year extension until 2022/23 last offseason, said after Sunday’s game he hadn’t been told anything about his future with the team.
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“I wasn’t told s— and I’m going to enjoy the game tonight, celebrate what these young lads have done in terms of scraping and scraping and getting back into that game and getting a W and we’re going to take care of it.” tomorrow, tomorrow,” he told reporters during his post-game media availability.
Continuity has been a constant challenge for Vogel and the Lakers this season as they deal with injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis and a challenging roster build including limited shooting and athletics.
Los Angeles was the only team not to have a single five-man lineup play 100 minutes together, according to a study by ESPN Stats & Information. Although the Lakers went into the season with high expectations, they were only able to keep James, Davis and Russell Westbrook together for 21 games. They went 11-10 in those contests.
The Lakers finished the season in the bottom 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and ranked 21st in defensive standings after finishing first in 2020-21 and third in 2019-20.
LA lost 18 of 24 games after the All-Star break, with only the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers finishing with worse records during that span.
Lakers rookie Austin Reaves, who hit a triple-double with 31 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in Sunday’s finals, said it’s “good to walk out with a big win [Vogel] and our team.”
Malik Monk, who posted a career-high 41 points, praised Vogel’s approach throughout the season despite his job status being questioned.
“He kept calm the whole time,” said Monk. “I didn’t talk about such problems. I haven’t talked about anything like that, man. He would come in and work and always give us a great game plan… He was always about us. It was never really about him. And I give him credit for that, man. I know it was pretty tough for him but he never talked about it. He never changed his behavior.”
Vogel led the Lakers to an NBA title in the Orlando, Fla. bubble during the COVID-hit 2019-20 season and retained the franchise as one of the league’s elite defensive teams during his first two seasons in Los Angeles. He is expected to be a candidate for future head coaching cycles elsewhere in the league.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.