Byron Scott is widely considered to be the favorite to land the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job after he sat down for another interview with team brass this week, but Kurt Rambis and Alvin Gentry are also "primary candidates" to fill the vacancy left at the helm in LA.
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Rambis, who has ties to New York Knicks president Phil Jackson and could join the team from the Big Apple as new head coach Derek Fisher's assistant, remains a potential choice for Los Angeles. According to various outlets, the Lakers have interviewed about a half-dozen potential coaches but Scott, Rambis and Gentry remain the favorites to land the gig.
Rambis is slated to meet with Jackson and Fisher and could end up taking a job on the east coast, while the potential to join a west coast team like the Lakers could be enough to keep him away from accepting a gig with the Knicks.
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It has been uncertain how serious of a candidate Gentry was to fill in as Lakers coach, but sources told Bleacher Report that Gentry is in fact among the top three candidates to land the job, meaning Los Angeles may have become more serious about him pacing the sidelines for them next season in recent weeks.
The fact that Scott interviewed a second time for the opening leads to him being seen as the heavy favorite, and he even has the approval of Kobe Bryant -- whether or not that affects general manager Mitch Kupchak's thinking is unknown, but Bryant has intimated he wanted a say in the next coach.
Los Angeles is looking for a new bench leader after Mike D'Antoni resigned and took a $2 million buyout at the end of the season due to the fact that the team was willing to bring him back for one more year but wouldn't exercise his option for the 2015-16 season.
Not wanting to be a lame duck coach, D'Antoni opted to leave the team rather than go through another year facing questions about his job status.
Whoever ends up getting the Lakers coaching job has a tall task ahead of them as the team is coming off of a year where it finished a franchise-worst 27-55 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2005.
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