Dan Hurley Admits A Certain Offer Could Have Made Him Leave UConn For The Lakers

Photo: Instagram/Dan Hurley

The Los Angeles Lakers made a strong effort to hire Dan Hurley as their next head coach, but he chose to stay at UConn. Hurley aims to win a third straight National Championship with the Huskies, but money also played a role in his decision.

Early reports suggested the Lakers offered Hurley at least $100 million. However, the actual offer was six years and $70 million.

Despite this making him one of the highest-paid NBA coaches, Hurley had a similar extension from UConn and felt it wasn't enough to move his family across the country.

Photo: Instagram/Dan Hurley

On "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stu Gotz," Hurley admitted there was a number that could have made him leave UConn for the Lakers:

“Yeah, I think to leave there probably is. To leave a place at any moment in your life, I think to say that it’s not a motivating factor – the finances – to leave a place, it’s definitely a thing. To stay at a place, I don’t think it’s ever gonna be a thing. To stay somewhere like UConn, it would have never been a financial thing."

Hurley dismissed the idea that he used the Lakers to leverage a better deal at UConn:

“One of the worst takes I’ve heard is like this was a leverage play by me to improve my situation at UConn. Like, I don’t need leverage here. We’ve won back-to-back National Championships at this place. This was never a leverage situation for me.”

The Lakers, led by Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka, might have needed to offer more to secure Hurley. He wasn’t interested in negotiating, given his and his family's preference to stay in the Northeast.

With Hurley out of the picture, the Lakers are now considering other candidates, including JJ Redick, who is set to interview this weekend. Despite not being the first choice, Redick understands and accepts the Lakers' pursuit of Hurley.

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Source: Lakers Nation