Report: Doc Rivers ‘Potential Lakers Candidate’ to Replace Frank Vogel
As the NBA regular season enters its final week, the offseason rumors are already starting to heat up and one involves current Sixers head coach Doc Rivers.
Per Jake Fischer over at Bleacher Report, Rivers is a potential candidate to replace Wildwood high alum Frank Vogel in Los Angles with the Lakers.
Doc Rivers, the Philadelphia 76ers’ head coach, is another active bench leader being mentioned by league personnel as a potential Lakers candidate. Rivers’ tenure in Philadelphia has also come into question of late, spurred by team president Daryl Morey’s deadline acquisition of James Harden and the mounting speculation that followed about a potential reunification with Harden’s former Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Rivers has also been linked by several league sources as a potential replacement for the Jazz, in the event Snyder does depart Utah. Rivers was the head coach in Boston from 2004 to 2013 under current Jazz CEO Danny Ainge.
Vogel is expected to be fired by the Lakers when the season ends, and one of the names that has surfaced is Rivers, who has been a lighting rod recently for some of the Sixers issues.
There has been some speculation that Rivers has been linked to the Utah Jazz as a replacement for Quinn Snyder, should he leave the bench. Rivers worked with Danny Ainge, who is now in Utah.
If Rivers was to depart, there have been some who think Daryl Morey would replace Rivers with his former Houston head coach, Mike D'Antoni.
Rivers is 97-53 in during his time with Philadelphia, with a disappointing second-round exit in the 2020-2021 playoffs, losing a Game 7 at home to the Atlanta Hawks.
He was recently voted one of the 15 greatest NBA coaches of All-Time, and owns a 1,040-734 record with four teams, winning an NBA Championship with the Celtics in 2008.