Kurt Rambis’s influence within the front office has increased significantly since Magic Johnson resigned, as the senior basketball adviser has been involved in nearly the entirety of the head coach hiring process.
However, it appears that one aspect of Rambis’s reach was exaggerated.
Last week, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reported that the Lakers asked Tyronn Lue to include Rambis as an assistant coach if he was hired, and Lue refused. However, Tania Ganguli and Broderick Turner of The L.A. Timesclarified on Saturday that though the Lakers had requests for the coaching staff, Rambis was not one of them:
The Lakers asked Lue to hire Kidd as part of his staff and also suggested Vogel.