The Los Angeles Lakers will be hiring a new coach sometime this offseason, but stories have begun to leak out about former coach Mike D'Antoni's rocky relationship with star Kobe Bryant, who is often hard to get along with. Bryant, who had reportedly butted heads with D'Antoni in the past, reportedly barely spoke to his coach during the end of the season.
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According to ESPN, Bryant's rocky relationship with D'Antoni got even worse as the 2013-14 season wore on despite the fact that Bryant was battling an injury and was sidelined.
"The Bryant-D'Antoni relationship deteriorated to the point where the pair barely spoke by the end of their tenure together," ESPN reported about the final weeks of D'Antoni's tenure with the team.
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There were also reports that Bryant would use shootaround time to receive treatment in the training room, which D'Antoni wanted to put a stop to due to the fact that he thought the time away from his teammates was causing a disconnect between them.
Bryant was rumored to be unhappy with D'Antoni and tired of playing for him despite the fact that the five-time NBA champion and perennial All-Star was sidelined with a knee injury.
Bryant, who re-signed with the franchise on a two-year $48.5 million deal this year, missed time with the knee injury and a torn Achilles tendon this season.
Bryant wants a sixth NBA title, and he hopes that the team will bring in a coach that can give the team a championship pedigree. It has been reported that Bryant wants to be in on the decision of the head coaching hire, but it remains to be seen if the team will grant his request.
There was speculation that the team was set to bring back D'Antoni for next season but the coach ended up resigning after the team refused to pick up his 2015-16 option. D'Antoni didn't want to be a lame duck coach and once again work on the final year of his contract and have to answer constant questions about his job status.
The Lakers finished a franchise-worst 27-55 this season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and just the second time with Bryant on the roster. Now that Bryant got what he wants and D'Antoni is gone, it remains to be seen who will next take the job on the Los Angeles sideline.
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