Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: Is Frank Vogel’s job security still stable?

There has been a rash of coaching changes around the NBA for a variety of reasons. Some firings were expected while others were shocking news stories. The Lake Show Life staff started to “Read the room” so to speak and wonder if Frank Vogel’s job is in jeopardy. To the fans that believe the Los Angeles Lakers won’t fire a championship coach…we’ll save you a Google trip. 

Something strange is going on around the NBA. Have you noticed the high number of coaching dismissals that has happened in the last couple of weeks? As of this writing there are six coaching vacancies with more to come by the end of the postseason.

• Portland Trail Blazers fire Terry Stotts after their first round loss to the Denver Nuggets.
• The Orlando Magic move on after the season from Steve Clifford calling it a amicable split.
• The Boston Celtics move Brad Stevens up to President of Basketball Operations after Danny Ainge retires.
• Indiana Pacers fire Nate Bjorkgren after one season of behind the scenes chaos.
• Scott Brooks and the Washington Wizards separate after not coming to agreement on a contract extension.
• Bonus prediction from Lake Show Life: If the Brooklyn Nets win their series over Milwaukee, add Mike Budenholzer to this list. After that Game 5 collapse, he’s good as gone!

But the biggest seismic shock in the NBA coaching ranks was New Orleans Pelicans firing Stan Van Gundy after one year at the helm. Read the statement from David Griffin via ESPN.

"“This was a difficult decision as I have tremendous respect for Stan both personally and professionally, but we agreed it is in the best interest of our team to move forward in a different direction.”"

Even long-time executives were getting fired. After 24 years running the Dallas Mavericks, Donnie Nelson got shown the door.

The next day, Rick Carlisle was dismissed as Dallas Mavericks head coach according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

"Rick Carlisle — who led Dallas to the 2011 NBA championship — informed Mavericks owner Mark Cuban today that he won’t be returning as coach next season, Carlisle told ESPN. Carlisle had two years left on his contract. He spent 13 seasons as Mavericks coach."

This season was not Frank Vogel’s finest hour as he made a ton of mistakes dealing with this roster by way of adjustments and rotations. If you dismiss his disastrous tenure in Orlando, this could have been the worst coaching performance in Frank Vogel’s career.

The Lake Show Life staff wouldn’t even consider discussing this topic if it wasn’t for a strange decision by assistant coach, Jason Kidd.

He took his name OUT of the running for the Portland Trail Blazers job! 

It’s not like he doesn’t want a NBA job folks. He’s scheduled for an interview with the Orlando Magic, a franchise that blew up everything and is starting from square one.

Does anyone see anything strange when Kidd takes his name out of the running for a playoff team where the franchise player in Damian Lillard goes public specifically wanting him to take over to Yahoo! Sports?

"“Jason Kidd is the guy I want,”"

Maybe Kidd sees an opening a few chairs over? See, Frank Vogel is in the final year of his three year deal without a peep of extension talks. Most coaches want to avoid the lame duck status going into the season. Based on how the Lakers imploded at the end with players complaining over playing time over the season, this is a possible ticking time bomb.

Maybe the Lakers are scouting the playoffs for their next coach? Nate McMillan has placed himself as the hottest available coach in the NBA. Remember, he’s an interim coach for the Atlanta Hawks.

Sure there are Los Angeles Lakers fans out there wondering how in the world could Frank Vogel’s job be in jeopardy after leading the team to an NBA title in the bubble? There may be some that thinks this article has no merit because nothing like this has happened before.

Well if you are one of these groups of people, you are showing a glaring lack of knowledge of the history of your team. Lake Show Life will save you a trip to the Google page and give you a history lesson before breaking down why it could happen. Go ahead and hit the purple bar.