Sources: Lakers GM meets with Mike Dunleavy Sr. about head coaching job
Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak met with Mike Dunleavy Sr. to discuss the franchise's head coaching job on Sunday morning, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Dunleavy has emerged as a candidate for the Lakers, who plan to seriously start searching for a new coach in the aftermath of Tuesday night's NBA draft lottery. The Lakers will hold the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Dunleavy's 17 seasons as an NBA head coach – including stops with the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers – give him the big-market background and skill set to deal with the pressures and responsibilities of the Lakers' position and the credibility to coach All-Star Kobe Bryant. Dunleavy, 60, built a reputation as one of the league's more innovative tacticians in his career.
Dunleavy has also coached the Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers. In his most recent head coaching stop, Dunleavy resigned from the Clippers during the 2010 season.
He has a .461 winning percentage in the regular season as a head coach, but went 38-33 in seven playoff appearances. He led the Lakers to the NBA Finals in 1991 and was voted the NBA Coach of the Year in 1999 after leading the Trail Blazers to the conference finals.
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