Jerry West has passed away at the age of 86.

West played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1960 until 1974 where he was a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection and two-time All-NBA Second Team pick. West was selected to the NBA's 35th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams.

As an executive, West won eight championships with six coming as the lead decision maker with the Lakers, and two additional titles as a consultant with the Golden State Warriors.

In recent years, West was a consultant for the Los Angeles Clippers. 

There is some uncertainty over whether the Los Angeles Lakers had always targeted Dan Hurley to be their head coach, or if it was a new development after his extension talks with UConn stalled and how serious he ever was about leaving for the NBA.

Before the start of the Hurley talks, the Lakers were reportedly close to settling on JJ Redick for the job.

"It had been apparent that JJ Redick was separating himself as as one of the front runners, but obviously he is part of the NBA Finals coverage right now, and the feeling was that at some point after The Finals, these sides would reconvene and actually do something to bring him out to L.A. and do a more formal meeting," said Shams Charania on the Pat McAfee Show.

"So last week, really, around Wednesday of last week, the Lakers turned their attention to Dan Hurley and he has he was not mentioned from the start of this search as far as going after."

The Hurley extension talks were reportedly a factor in the timing of the Lakers' pursuit.

"He was in the midst of contract extension negotiations after Memorial Day," said Charania. "They've been going back and forth, and the Lakers, you know for some reason, somehow felt like there was an opening with Dan Hurley. And around the league what is now being termed to me is like really 'a Hail Mary offer' to Dan Hurley. They come in six years, $70 million, so he was around $5 million or $6 million at UConn, they're bumping that up two times to around $12 million per year.

"But Dan Hurley clearly, clearly did not want to really leave UConn and he chose to stay at the end of the day. And he's taking $20 million less to stay at UConn to continue to build what he's building."

Charania added he believes Hurley benefits with this story as a public demonstration of his commitment to UConn in the near-term and he will have future opportunities for the NBA.

"What better way to tell recruits than to say I turned down the Lakers job for $70 million, so Dan Hurley obviously a major, major winner through all this, and deservingly so. I think you guys had me on around the final four around the tournament and we talked about Dan Hurley and how special he is as a coach.

"And I think, listen, at the end there's questions around the league as to whether that was a genuine interest for Dan Hurley was this a genuine part of the process, or was this simply a leverage move for Dan Hurley, but clearly he gets his money. He gets his bag."

Dan Hurley ultimately decided to remain at UConn, turning down an opportunity to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley's reasoning for the decision was explained by Adrian Wojnarowski.

"Start with the opportunity Dan Hurley has at UConn," said Wojnarowski on Get Up on Tuesday morning. "As you said, to do something that hasn't been done since John Wooden's UCLA teams, that's win a third straight NCA Championship. Probably never have that chance again as a coach. This is a unique time in his life and his career. That's number one.

"Number two, Dan Hurley really studied everything that was re required to be an NBA coach and the adjustments he was going to have to make. As much as the Lakers wanted what Dan Hurley brought, his program building his player development, the way he can forge relationships with players. You know the great X's and O' acumen. He's running a lot of stuff in college that's been intriguing to NBA coaches who they want to steal from a little bit. or all of that, Dan Hurley was going to have to adjust and knew that he had to be ready to make the adjustments in temperament, in practice time, all the things that come with being an NBA coach from college basketball. And, ultimately, Dan Hurley wasn't there yet on doing that.

"So they negotiated out a number almost $12 million a year it would have put him just behind [Gregg] Popovich, Steve Kerr, Ty Lou, coaches who have a combined 12 NBA championships and more than double what he was making at Connecticut. He had negotiated a new deal for himself with his agent weeks ago that's going to be, I'm told, kind of in the $8 million plus range. It'll put him among the highest paid coaches in college basketball, but they never negotiated off that, or leveraged off that with the Lakers. The Lakers was a singular moment for Dan Hurley and it wasn't about getting his UConn number up. It already was up and that was before UConn even knew about the Laker conversations.

"I think in the end for Dan Hurley, he wasn't ready to do the job. I think he loved what he heard in L.A. from Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss. He loved the idea of having Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and the group they have in the short-term. And then working with Pelinka over time with a six-year deal to draft players to find what Rob Pelinka told him would be Hurley-type players for the Lakers. He was going to have a hand in all of that

"But ultimately, for Dan Hurley, at 51 years old, wasn't ready to make that move. And I think there was never really an instance in the last days of this where Dan Hurley told the Lakers, 'Hey, if you hit this number I am coming.' He wasn't ready to come and it wasn't about what the number was.

"Listen, the Lakers were taking some risk too that Hurley could make this adjustment that as great as he is that he was going to be a fully formed NBA coach and that offer you know certainly put him in the upper echelon of NBA coaches, so maybe this isn't as much about the money as a lot of people were making when they saw it the initial numbers they came out yesterday."

James Borrego will meet with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Borrego also remains a "significant name" in the Lakers' coaching search. 

Brian Windhorst reported that Borrego was gaining momentum with the Cavs. 

The Lakers plan to have a coach in place before the upcoming draft. 

J.J. Redick and the Los Angeles Lakers have had minimal contact, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN. 

Rumors connecting Redick to the Lakers have been abundant in recent weeks, but he has avoided discussing it publicly while the franchise also pursued Danny Hurley with a lucrative offer.

The Lakers' strong pursuit of Hurley signals they are not necessarily love with the idea of hiring Redick or the other known candidate James Borrego. 

Redick is currently broadcasting the NBA Finals for ESPN.

The Los Angeles Lakers hope to hire their next head coach by the draft beginning on June 26th, sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

James Borrego, who has interviewed twice for the job, remains one of the candidates for the Lakers.

The Lakers could also conduct their first formal interview with J.J. Redick.

Dan Hurley has rejected a six-year, $70 million offer to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers to remain at UConn.

The Lakers pursued Hurley over a number of weeks, but it only became a publicly reported story last week. Hurley reportedly made his decision to remain at UConn on Sunday with the news breaking on Monday.

Hurley told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Sunday that the Lakers made a "compelling case" and presented a "compelling vision" for him to become head coach. 

James Borrego has remained a candidate for the job, while the Lakers could also conduct their first formal interview with JJ Redick.

UConn's Dan Hurley will make a decision on Monday on taking the Los Angeles Lakers head coach job. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on NBA Countdown ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals that "Hurley is expected to inform the Lakers of his decision by Monday."

Hurley said Los Angeles made a "compelling case" for him to take their head coaching job. He also said the Lakers have a "compelling vision", but that he loves what he's built at UConn.

It was reported earlier in the day on Sunday that Hurley did not meet with his UConn players over the weekend. Hurley had previously met with his team to inform that he was discussing leaving the Huskies to take the Lakers job.

It's been reported that Los Angeles has made Hurley a "massive" offer to become their next head coach. Expectations are that the Lakers may have offered Hurley more years and more money than is common in NBA coaching contracts. Los Angeles wants Hurley to bring a program-building style of coaching to the NBA, given concerns the new CBA has placed on teams above the tax aprons.

Dan Hurley will meet with the Los Angeles Lakers this weekend to discuss their head coaching job, but the two sides still have work to do on building a relationship.

"I just think it's important for the Lakers to try to close this weekend," said Brian Windhorst on Get Up of the meeting previously reported by Adrian Wojnarowski. "I know that this has momentum as Woj talked about, but it's been emphasized to me that this is not a done deal. That there is still relationship building and conversations that need to take place that are probably going to take place over the next couple of days."

While Hurley signed an extension with UConn in June of 2023, he hasn't signed one following a second consecutive championship. UConn, however, did recently extend Geno Auriemma as head coach of the women's team. UConn could make Hurley an improved financial offer to entice him to remain as head coach and not leave for the Lakers.

"You know UConn had a chance now to sort of move back," added Windhorst. "You know, one of the things that didn't happen in the wake of that second championship, UConn was not able to get a contract extension done with Dan Hurley in these two months that have passed since they won that title. And I'll point out this week they did get one done with Geno Auriemma, their legendary women's basketball coach, that's in place. So now UConn is scrambling trying to improve their offer to give him another option as he weighs what is a certainly a lucrative offer from the Lakers."

Windhorst also referenced comments from Hurley talking about his extension talks with UConn and that the school has a window to keep him.

The Los Angeles Lakers have made Anthony Davis a significant part of the franchise's head coaching search, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The Lakers will make sure that Davis is aligned with how the next head coach will use him both on the offensive and defensive side.

It was rumored that Davis prefers James Borrego over J.J. Redick. 

Dan Hurley is scheduled to meet with the Lakers on Friday.