USA Today reports that the Lakers have fired their head coach after an ugly 1-4 start to the season. That is according to his agent, the paper reported Friday afternoon on its website.
Initial reports surfaced Friday that the coach would have the upcoming six-game homestand to prove himself, but that wasn’t the case apparently.
Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the decision was that of Lakers ownership, not necessarily general manager Mitch Kupchak.
Within past 24 hours, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak had pushed ownership to give Mike Brown more time before firing him, sources tell Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) November 9, 2012
No replacement has been announced, but Wojnarowski also tweeted that former Suns and Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni has been discussed as a possible replacement. That would seem to make sense given D’Antoni’s relationship with new Lakers point guard Steve Nash. It may also be interesting to see how an athletic Los Angeles big man like Dwight Howard would fit into D’Antoni’s fast-paced offense, especially given Amare Stoudemire‘s success in the system in his time under the veteran head coach.
The Lakers, who were set to open that homestand on Friday night against Golden State, were 41-25 last season under Brown, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.