Mike D’Antoni has resigned as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers despite having another year on his contract left. This ends D’Antoni’s reign in LA that began on November 12, 2012 and saw the head coach have a disappointing 67-87 record in his two seasons with the team. He previously was head coach of the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks, and has a career record of 455-426. After never getting the Lakers veterans including Kobe Bryant on his side this news doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. D’Antoni was hoping to exercise his 2015-16 option, but the Lakers had different ideas.
Lakers GM Mitch Kuochak made a statement:
Given the circumstances, I don’t know that anybody could have done a better job than Mike did the past two seasons. We thank Mike for the work ethic, professionalism & positive attitude that he brought to the team every day. We wish him the best of luck.”
The 2014 Lakers season was one of the worst in franchise history with an abysmal 27-55 record and .329 win percentage. While most of that can be attributed the rash of injuries and a roster comprised of many D-League players.
