If you thought the conclusion of the 2021-22 NBA season would also be the end of the Lakers’ embarrassment, think again.
In what is just the latest in a seemingly endless series of head shaking moments, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel would be fired on Monday, the report coming out immediately after the Lakers’ season-finale win over the Nuggets.
The awkward timing led to Vogel being asked about his own impending firing during the postgame press conference. Vogel said he was aware of the report, but hadn’t heard anything from the team.
“I don’t know shit,” Vogel said during the presser when asked about his future.
Wojnarowski is one of the premier news breakers in the NBA, and would only issue such a report if he got word from someone in the Lakers organization that this was happening. The fact that LA would leak the news without waiting until Vogel had at least had his press conference, is fairly outrageous.
Analysts, and former Lakers players Robert Horry and James Worthy agreed with that assessment, yet curiously were upset with Wojnarowski for issuing the report, instead of criticizing their former organization for leaking the news.
Vogel was named as the Lakers’ head coach in 2019, and is less than two years removed from winning a NBA title with LA in the 2020 bubble. This year’s Lakers finished 33-49, missing the play-in tournament as they dealt with consistant injuries and an absolute disastrous season by free agent acquisition Russell Westbrook.