With so much greatness throughout the history of the Los Angeles Lakers, there have naturally been several former Lakers players who have transitioned into head coaching. As it stands right now, Ty Lue is the only former Lakers player who is a head coach but there have been icons such as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and even Magic Johnson who turned to coaching in some capacity after retiring.
With it being 15 years removed from the Lakers' first of two back-to-back championships under Kobe Bryant's leadership, we may start to see players from that beloved team break into the coaching scene in the NBA.
That appears to be Metta Sandiford-Artest's end goal for his basketball career. Sandiford-Artest recently posted a video to social media talking about the growth of the women's game and how he has enjoyed coaching women's hoops. In the caption for the video, Sandiford-Artest very subtly planted the seeds to one day coach in the NBA.
I’ve been coaching women’s basketball for the last 9 years and the last 5 years at Cal State LA D2 women’s where we made history being the first coaches to go to back to back NCAA appearances in the school’s history. I’m staying in women’s basketball or NBA Head Coach.… pic.twitter.com/AxDjF7QdIV
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorld37) April 8, 2024
Former Lakers role player Metta Sandiford-Artest plants seeds to coach in NBA
Sandiford-Artest specifically mentioned that he is staying in women's basketball, mentioning being an NBA head coach as the only other avenue he would take as a coach.
The former Laker may not have NBA coaching experience but he does have direct experience in the league. Back in 2017 he was hired as a player development coach for the South Bay Lakers and held that role for one year. Since then, Sandiford-Artest has been making his impact felt on the women's game, particularly at the high school and collegiate level.
If Sandiford-Artest builds up enough of a coaching track record and interviews well with the right people then he absolutely could get an NBA job on merit alone. It would be an uphill battle for sure, but he would not be the first former player to get a job based on their playing days.
If he does get the opportunity to be a head coach in the NBA then he could have the most unorthodox coaching career ever. In an interview with Sportskeeda's Mark Medina, Sandiford-Artest said that he would try to win a title in the first five years and after that, he would be done.
"I want to try to win a title and get in and out," Sandiford-Artest told Sportskeeda. "That's my goal. If I don't win it, I'm done. I'll give myself five years I'm also big on making a social impact. "
This would certainly be a unique way to approach a job that only 30 people on the planet get to have. Some teams may balk at the idea of Sandiford-Artest leaving after five years, especially if he is successful. But after all, teams have no problem firing coaches at the first sign of trouble, so perhaps this "five-year window" approach would be a good one.
Sandiford-Artest is yet to get any real interest from NBA teams for previous head coaching vacancies but that does not mean that he will never be in the mix. After all, the Lakers could move on from Darvin Ham this offseason and the favorite to replace him is underwhelming.
He probably won't get the job, but it would be a fun full-circle moment to see Sandiford-Artest at least be in the mix for the Lakers head coaching job the next time there is a vacancy.