FILE – Head coach Tyronn Lue (L) of the Cleveland Cavaliers talks with LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers after a quarterfinal game of the 2018 NBA Summer League between the Lakers and the Detroit Pistons at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 15, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP
The Los Angeles Lakers are homing in on Tyronn Lue in their search for a new head coach, the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets reported Friday.
The Lakers have been without a head coach since April 12, when they parted ways with Luke Walton.
According to the Times, former Lakers coach Phil Jackson and Magic Johnson — who stepped down as Lakers’ president of basketball operations last month — have told team co-owner Jeanie Buss that they support hiring Lue.
Lue, who coached Lakers superstar LeBron James in Cleveland and once played for Jackson, has been on the Lakers’ radar for some time.
Both he and Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Monty Williams have been interviewed by the club, but Williams was hired on Friday as the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns.
That appeared to increase the likelihood that Lue would be offered the Lakers’ coaching job — a position he’d been linked with ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers fired him after an 0-6 start to the season.
Lue’s stint coaching James in Cleveland produced one title in 2016 and two more trips to the NBA Finals.