Football

Report: Frank Vogel to be next Lakers coach, Jason Kidd assistant

The Los Angeles Lakers will be hiring Frank Vogel as their next head coach and Jason Kidd as an assistant, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski also reported that Vogel’s contract with the Lakers will be for three years.

Both Vogel and Kidd will be going into the 2019-20 season not having coached in the 2018-19 campaign, as Vogel and Kidd were fired by the Orlando Magic at the end of the 2017-18 season and Milwaukee Bucks midway through the 2017-18 season, respectively.

Vogel, 45, spent 10 years as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics (2001-04), Philadelphia 76ers (2004-05) and the Indiana Pacers (2007-11) before his title became Pacers head coach.

The 45-year-old had his best years as a head coach in Indiana from 2011-2016.

In that time the Pacers made the playoffs five times in six years, including two trips to the Western Conference Finals that ended in back-to-back series losses to the Miami Heat.

Vogel’s tenure also included the emergence of six-time all-star Paul George.

Kidd, mostly remembered by Suns fans for his time in Phoenix from 1996-2001, only has five years of coaching experience, all as a head coach.

Before being at the helm for the Bucks, the former Sun led the Brooklyn Nets, another former team of his, to the Eastern Conference Semifinals that would result in a 4-1 series loss to the same Heat team that eliminated the Pacers.

Kidd then spent the next four years (2014-18) in Milwaukee, where his team made the playoffs twice in three full seasons before getting let go by the team.

Coincidentally, the emergence of Giannis Antetokounmpo also came under the lead of Kidd.