Mike D'Antoni's saga with the Los Angeles Lakers may be renewed for a third season.
The Charleston Daily Mail is reporting that D'Antoni has turned down the Marshall basketball coaching job because he will remain coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to the Daily Mail:
"D'Antoni met with Lakers brass - team executive Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak - multiple times this week to discuss D'Antoni's future with the organization. At this point, the Lakers just aren't going to budge and are adamant about keeping D'Antoni as the coach. D'Antoni is two years through a three-year, $12 million contract he signed on Nov. 12, 2012. The Lakers hold a team option for a fourth season that would bring D'Antoni back for the 2015-16 campaign at another $4 million.
"This season, D'Antoni compiled his worst full-season record (27-55) in 12 seasons as an NBA head coach and the injury-riddled Lakers finished in last place in the Pacific Division. But as Kupchak told the media last week, D'Antoni is 'under contract for two more years. If anything changes, we'll let you know.'
"It doesn't appear anything is going to change, so Marshall must change directions."
The Daily Mail added that it appeared that D'Antoni would have taken the Marshall job had he been fired from the Lakers. He has guided one of the most storied franchises in the NBA through two turbulent seasons.
In 2012-13, he came aboard during the season in which the Lakers were supposed to contend for a championship behind Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash. But Howard was recovering from back surgery most of the season, Nash missed most of the season with a knee injury, Bryant blew out his Achilles trying to get the Lakers just to the playoff and missed the postseason, and the Lakers were swept in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs.
This past season, the Lakers finished with their worst record since relocating to Los Angeles in 1960 as Howard bolted to the Houston Rockets in free agency, Bryant played in only six games before suffering a season-ending injury and both Nash and Gasol also could not stay healthy.
But the Lakers seem adamant about giving D'Antoni every chance to succeed, especially because they chose him over Phil Jackson to run the show in 2012-13.
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