Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak confirmed that Mike D'Antoni will return as the team's head coach next season, according to ESPNLA.com. Following a rocky season, D'Antoni's Lakers rallied to clinch the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
"I think under the circumstances, Mike did a great job. We don't anticipate any kind of a change," Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com.
D'Antoni was hired as the Lakers coach in November following the firing of Mike Brown. The Lakers interviewed three coaches in a 48-hour period before choosing D'Antoni, who was still recovering from knee replacement surgery.
Los Angeles is said to have chose D'Antoni over former coach Phil Jackson. Jackson's legacy as an 11-time NBA, five coming with the Lakers, made D'Antoni's job all the more difficult to live up to high expectations.
D'Antoni went just 12-20 out of the gates as Los Angeles struggled to learn his up-tempo system with Steve Nash and Steve Blake facing injuries. The Lakers ended the season with a rally win over the Houston Rockets to overtake the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
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