Did Lakers fire entire assistant coaching staff? Looking at major maneuvers by Jeanie Buss & Rob Pelinka following Playoffs loss

The Los Angeles Lakers are making, as expected, a major overhaul in their coaching staff. The Purple and Gold officially parted ways with Darvin Ham today.

The Lakers issued a statement to inform fans about the decision on their X account, citing Rob Pelinka, the Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager:

Following this, the team's front office had more decisions to make and according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, the 17-time NBA champion franchise let the entire coaching staff go. This, of course, includes coach Phil Handy.

This season, the Lakers coaching staff included Chris Jent as the lead assistant coach, Handy as the player development coach, and Jordan Ott, J.D. DuBois, Schuyler Rimmer, Zach Peterson and former player DeMarre Carroll completing Darvin Ham's coaching roster.

Lakers have identified NBA champion coaches to replace Darvin Ham

NBA insider Shams Charania reports that the Lakers have already identified a group of coaches that could become Darvin Ham's replacement for next season. Charania names three NBA champions in the first group of potential candidates for the Purple and Gold: Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson and Tyronn Lue.

Budenholzer won the NBA championship in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks and was fired two seasons later after a first-round playoff exit. Kenny Atkinson became an NBA champion as an assistant coach in 2022, helping Steve Kerr and the Warriors get the fourth championship in eight years.

Before these two, Tyronn Lue was already an NBA champion, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors in 2016. Although the Clippers' head coach is reportedly out of range for the Lakers, it's interesting to see they are looking for a certain profile of coach to take them to the promised land.

Besides these three, the Los Angeles team is reportedly interested in JJ Redick, who has zero experience as a coach but has a lot of knowledge about the game, is a former player and has the respect of many of his peers. It remains to be seen who takes over the team, but they won't miss candidates this offseason.