Los Angeles Lakers fans are suffering through a disastrous 2019, and after top coaching candidate Tyronn Lue reportedly turned down a three-year deal to reunite with LeBron James and replace Luke Walton, one the the NBA’s most storied franchises is rudderless ahead of a pivotal offseason. Let’s take a quick look at the Lakers’ grim timeline since LeBron James suffered a groin injury on Christmas Day against the Warriors: December 25th: LeBron James injures groin, Lakers beat Warriors to improve to 20-14. James returned to the team, then 26-25, on January 31st. LeBron James injures groin, Lakers beat Warriors to improve to 20-14. James returned to the team, then 26-25, on January 31st. January 19th: Lonzo Ball suffers ankle sprain against the Rockets. Ball would not return for the rest of the season, marking the second consecutive season he missed 30 games or more. Without Ball, the Lakers lost 19 of their next 25 games to fall out of the playoff race. Lonzo Ball suffers ankle sprain against the Rockets. Ball would not return for the rest of the season, marking the second consecutive season he missed 30 games or more. Without Ball, the Lakers lost 19 of their next 25 games to fall out of the playoff race. February 7th: NBA trade deadline expires, Lakers fail to complete trade for Anthony Davis. NBA trade deadline expires, Lakers fail to complete trade for Anthony Davis. March 22nd: Lakers are eliminated from playoff contention. The Lakers’ last trip to the playoffs came in 2013, and the team hasn’t won a playoff game in seven years. LeBron James’ ridiculous streak of eight consecutive NBA Finals appearances was snapped, and he missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Lakers are eliminated from playoff contention. The Lakers’ last trip to the playoffs came in 2013, and the team hasn’t won a playoff game in seven years. LeBron James’ ridiculous streak of eight consecutive NBA Finals appearances was snapped, and he missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005. April 9th: In a truly bizarre scene, Lakers president Magic Johnson jovially told reporters he was quitting, and revealed that he had not yet informed Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. LeBron James later said that he was blindsided by the move. In a truly bizarre scene, Lakers president Magic Johnson jovially told reporters he was quitting, and revealed that he had not yet informed Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. LeBron James later said that he was blindsided by the move. April 12th: Lakers fire Luke Walton. Walton reportedly expected to be fired immediately after the season, but wasn’t axed until after Magic Johnson resigned. He quickly landed the head coaching job in Sacramento. Lakers fire Luke Walton. Walton reportedly expected to be fired immediately after the season, but wasn’t axed until after Magic Johnson resigned. He quickly landed the head coaching job in Sacramento. May 8th: After seeing another top target, Monty Williams, take the Suns job, the Lakers could not reach a deal with former Cavs coach Tyronn Lue, who is reportedly seeking a 5-year deal. The Lakers offered Lue a three-year contract worth $6 million per year, but Lue turned down the deal. It was reported by ESPN this week that former Lakers player Kurt Rambis, who works as a Lakers adviser, and his wife, Linda, have played an important role in the search for a head coach. The news triggered an epic Stephen A. Smith rant on ESPN. The trade rumors surrounding LeBron James explained by @stephenasmith the only way he knows how. 😂 pic.twitter.com/x9Ypv4vd3j — Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 9, 2019 “Tell me what has made sense about the Lakers over the last several years. Tell me what! The Jim Buss era, the dysfunctionality that [spread] through the franchise like a virus between Jim Buss and Jeanie Buss, and what that relationship was like. Remember when they were trying to recruit marquee free agents? Nobody would even look at them, because even when you showed up to the Lakers facility, you had to meet with them separately because they didn’t want to talk with one another. Now Jim Buss is gone, Magic Johnson’s coming in. He’s the savior! Oh my god, everything’s going to be just great! And what happens? He quits on you! Doesn’t even tell you that he’s quitting. Doesn’t tell LeBron James that he’s quitting. That’s what happened. Who is you GM? Rob Pelinka. What’s his executive experience? He’s an agent. Not an executive in the NBA, no experience. He’s an experienced agent, not an experienced GM. He’s a GM of the Lakers that can’t get calls returned. And then all of a sudden you’re hearing the name Linda Rambis. I know Kurt Rambis. I didn’t know anything about Linda Rambis, other than the fact that she was Jeanie’s best friend, until weeks ago. And now you have her influencing basketball decisions! You can’t make this up!”<doc-sep>On Friday morning, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith suggested LeBron James should demand a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers if the team doesn’t hire a coach he wants. Smith’s comments come after contract talks between the Lakers and former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue fell through. Lue and LeBron won a title in Cleveland and made three NBA Finals together. Lue emerged as the favorite to land the Lakers job, but after the Lakers’ brass allegedly wanted to force assistant coaching hires on Lue, the former Cavs coach walked away from the table. With Lue out of the picture, the Lakers’ coaching search rolls on. If the Lakers don’t hire someone LeBron wants as the head coach, Stephen A. thinks he should force his way out of Los Angeles. Yes. If LeBron James doesn't sign-off on the new Lakers head coach, he SHOULD demand a damn TRADE! pic.twitter.com/JBuQ9cPv1S — Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) May 10, 2019 “If LeBron James does not get the coach that he wants, it doesn’t matter which coach he is, if he does not get the coach that he signs off on, considering the dysfunctionality that is raking through this franchise…if I’m LeBron James I demand to be traded,” Smith said. Stephen A. isn’t alone on this front. ESPN analyst and former NBA player Jalen Rose agrees, saying LeBron should demand a trade if he doesn’t get the coach he wants. Stay tuned for the latest on the Lakers coaching search.<doc-sep>Would the Los Angeles Lakers seriously trade LeBron James? It’s a question being raised by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, and it comes after all the turmoil that’s surrounded the organization over the past year. “You’ve got folks close to Jeanie Buss imploring her to trade LeBron James,” Smith said in a video he posted Thursday on Twitter. (RELATED: Magic Johnson Steps Down As The President Of Basketball Operations For The Lakers) I’m told people in Hollywood have told Jeanie Buss to trade @KingJames! pic.twitter.com/PzaOvC3uF0 — Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) May 9, 2019 In case you didn’t already think the Lakers were a circus, this should be the nail in the coffin. Trading LeBron a year after signing him? Are you kidding me? If those discussions are honestly going on, then it might be time to just shut the Lakers down. It’d just be proof the team has no idea what the hell it’s doing. Why would you ever trade the best player on the planet a year after signing him? It makes no sense. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Mar 26, 2019 at 7:57pm PDT Seriously, how’d it all go so wrong? How did it go so wrong? It just doesn’t make sense. The Lakers brought in LeBron, they had all the hype in the world and the 2018-2019 campaign was a disaster from start to finish. I’m honestly not sure it could have gone much worse. Trading LeBron James would be such a joke that it’s almost hard to even comprehend. What a disaster it’s become in Los Angeles. There’s really no other way to sum it up. Follow David Hookstead on Twitter<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Lakers fell off of the rails several weeks ago when Magic Johnson abruptly resigned his post as president of basketball operations. Now they're just throwing gasoline on the wreckage of their organization. Only hours after it was reported that Ty Lue would not become their next head coach, Stephen A. Smith went on SportsCenter and said that some close to Jeanie Buss are advising her to trade LeBron James. Let's be absolutely clear about this: if anyone, be it Linda Rambis, Kurt Rambis, Rob Pelinka or one of the lesser-known Buss siblings is telling Jeanie to trade James, then that person should be removed from the franchise immediately. The move would be organizational suicide on just about every front. Just think about what would actually happen if the Lakers traded James against his will. In all likelihood, they would lose him for nothing. James has more money than he'll ever need and a legacy that is already written. He would probably just retire, leaving the Lakers without him or any assets in return for him, and nobody would blame him for making that choice. The league, from executives to fans, would simply continue laughing at this dysfunctional organization as they already are. It would also open the Lakers up to all sorts of unintended consequences. If James were feeling particularly vindictive, he could reveal to the league the extent to which the Lakers tampered with him prior to his free agency last July. The rest of the league would love nothing more than to see the Lakers punished for their tampering, and James would offer them a chance at that. Even if he didn't, trading him would functionally remove the Lakers from consideration for any star free agent moving forward. If a team is willing to trade LeBron James one year into contract, then they are willing to trade anyone. No free agent would ever trust Buss or her regime again. Klutch Sports, the league's fastest growing agency, would likely refuse to do business with them. The Lakers would lose access to many of the best players in the NBA. Oh, and then there's common sense. The Lakers struck out in free agency for almost an entire decade before landing James. It's not as if they have a glowing track record when it comes to recruiting. James was their first major organizational win since Kobe Bryant retired. The goal is to get as many good players as possible, not to give them away. Any executive who thinks otherwise should not be employed in the NBA. It is that simple. Trading James is a stupid idea. There is no good reason to try. If anyone is really trying to convince Buss to do so, they need to be excised from the organization immediately.<doc-sep>
It’s a troubling time in the land of the Los Angeles Lakers. They thought they found their next head coach in Tyronn Lue only to have talks end Wednesday when contract demands weren’t met. Lue was reportedly OK with the Lakers’ front office picking his staff, but wanted a five-year contract rather than a three-year one that expired in line with that of LeBron James. As one would expect, Twitter had a field day with the news. As one would also expect, so did ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Smith got deep into it Thursday on “Get Up” and held nothing back — not even his voice, which reached screeching levels by the time his three minutes was over. The trade rumors surrounding LeBron James explained by @stephenasmith the only way he knows how. 😂 pic.twitter.com/x9Ypv4vd3j — Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 9, 2019 Quotes do Smith no justice in this case, but here are the highlights. On what James is thinking: “He’s going to hesitate. He’s going to be reluctant to tell you what he feels. No. 1 because he wants to control the narrative. No. 2 because ‘The Shop,’ the latest edition of [his HBO show] ‘The Shop’ hasn’t taken place. So God forbid he’ll tell the media — he’ll be the media and tell you what he wants to tell you.” The next episode of James show is set to air Friday. On the chance of trading James: “For all of those out there who would debunk such a theory [the Lakers would trade James], who would sit up there and render it utter nonsense I would ask you a very simple yet rhetorical question. Tell me what has make sense about the Lakers over the last several years? Tell me what!” Smith continued with a furious fly-by on the executive dysfunction that includes the Buss family drama and Magic Johnson “quitting” on the team last month. Rambis connections break Smith Story continues The part that broke Smith and sent him high into the octave range: “All of the sudden you’re hearing the name Linda Rambis. I know Kurt Rambis. I didn’t know anything about Linda Rambis other than the fact that she was Jeanie’s [Buss] best friend two weeks ago. And now you have her influencing basketball decisions. You can’t make this up. You can’t make it up!” Kurt Rambis is a former Lakers player and coach who currently serves as a senior adviser. His wife, Linda, is listed as an executive director of special projects. She is a trusted confident and adviser to team owner Jeanie Buss and has been characterized in recent weeks as a “shadow owner” for her shy best friend, per ESPN reports. The Rambis couple has had a significant role in the process of hiring a new coach, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, and overruled the Buss family’s decision to hire Lue, per reports. So, yeah, Stephen A. Smith has a point. The Lakers interviewed Monty Williams before he agreed to become the Phoenix Suns next head coach. They’re now looking at Lionel Hollins, Frank Vogel and Mike Woodson as candidates to become their coach. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith has had it with the Los Angeles Lakers. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images) More from Yahoo Sports: