In his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Frank Vogel coached the team to their 17th championship in 2020, but was fired on Monday after missing the playoffs following a regular-season record of 33–49.
“Today is not going to be a day of finger-pointing and unwinding all the specific reasons,” said General Manager Rob Pelinka. “That’s not to say anything against the incredible accomplishments that Frank Vogel has had. He was a great coach here, and he’s going to go on to be a great coach somewhere else.”
The Lakers’ total record in the past three seasons is 127–98, under the management of Pelinka and coached by Vogel; who brought the Lakers’ first championship since 2010 during the previous head coach Phil Jackson’s era.
Following the season-ending game Sunday night, Vogel walked out of the press conference following questions speculating the firing.
Before the firing was announced, LeBron James stated, “I respect Frank as a coach and as a man. He’s a man who gives everything to the game. At the end of the day, I don’t know what’s going to happen with Frank and him being here, but I have nothing but respect for him.”
Following their 2020 championship, the Lakers’ record dropped to 42–30 last season with major injuries to Davis and James, and ended the season losing to the Western Conference champions Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
The early playoff exit resulted in Pelinka making adjustments to the roster, letting defensive leader Alex Caruso leave for Chicago.
Pelinka then traded Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma to Washington, in a package deal for Russell Westbrook, creating the “Big Three” with James, Anthony Davis, and Westbrook.
Only James, Davis, and Talen Horton-Tucker remained from the championship team; Dwight Howard would also return to the roster this season.
James was responsible for pushing for the Westbrook trade, and apparently also the addition of formerly retired Carmelo Anthony. The roster seemed convincing “on paper” with five likely future Hall-of-Famers to include James, Anthony, Westbrook, Howard, and Davis.
However, Westbrook lacked chemistry with the veteran team as they also did not have the desire to compete defensively, ranking at the bottom of the league.
Westbrook became the highest-paid player on the Lakers, and is due over $47 million for next season; his contract will restrict the team in making adjustments moving forward.
In addition, the Lakers were plagued with injuries as Davis sat out over half of the season playing 40 out of the 82 games this season, following last season’s 36 games played.
James was forced to carry the load averaging 30.3 points per game, becoming the first player to improve his career scoring average, to 27.1 points, in his 19th season.
Davis stated Sunday night following the Lakers’ season-ending game that he believes that he and James can still be the nucleus of another championship team.
“The reason we were not very good together is we weren’t on the [explicative] floor together,” added Davis.
James concurred, “You never got a chance to see what the ball club could be.”
James himself missed many games from the beginning of the season, due to a suspension and a late-season ankle injury keeping him on the bench for seven of the last eight games.
James is not considering retirement, saying there is no cap on how much longer he wants to play.
“I came here to win a championship. I want to win more,” said James. “I can still produce at a high level, as I showed this year.”
For now, Vogel is the first piece to be replaced in the Lakers’ quest for another championship.