The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly fired coach Mike Brown after a 1-4 start to their 2012-13 season. One of their losses was to the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 31.
Sam Amick of USA Today reports...
Mike Brown has been fired by the Los Angeles Lakers, according to his agent Warren Legarie. The Lakers are off to a 1-4 start and will play Golden State tonight at the Staples Center.
But despite the fact that new center Dwight Howard was coming off back surgery that kept him out of most of the preseason, and that new point guard Steve Nash has missed the last three games with a non-displaced fracture in the head of his left fibula, the slow start clearly caused enough angst among Lakers management to warrant them cutting a check for approximately $11 million to have Brown removed.
ESPNLA.com reports...
Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has been fired after a disappointing 1-4 start to the season, a source has told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne.
Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will coach the Lakers Friday night at home against the Warriors, a source tells ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.
Former Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan has had his name floated by some as a possible replacement. Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports on Twitter that McMillan "has not been contacted" by the Lakers but is "open" to the idea of coaching this season.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that former New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni is also a possibility.
It is unclear whether the organization will make a run at bringing back Phil Jackson, but one candidate prominently being discussed as a long-term possibility: Mike D'Antoni.
Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw also could become a candidate - though that's a dicier proposition, given the acrimony that ensued between the Lakers front office and Shaw after the team chose to replace Jackson with Brown over Shaw.
In conversations on Thursday, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak made a case to Lakers owner Jerry Buss and executive vice president Jim Buss to give Brown more time before deciding to fire him, sources told Y! Sports. Brown also made a case to management that he could get the Lakers into championship contention, sources said.
Update: Mike Tokito of The Oregonian has reaction from Blazers practice from coach Terry Stotts and All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
"I never like it when coaches get fired," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts, who has twice been fired from head coaching spots, but never in midseason. "I know it's part of the profession, but it is a fraternity, and you hate to see a coach get fired, especially this early in the season."
"I don't know what to say -- if Kobe isn't happy, then that's tough," Aldridge said. "I have been getting word that he wasn't happy with how things were going, and if he's not happy, then your chances there are pretty slim -- as we saw with Shaq. ... Everybody talks around the league, and there was talk that he wasn't happy. "
More details and recent quotes here.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter