Lakers legend calls for team to make LeBron James the next head coach

Even before the Los Angeles Lakers made the decision to fire Darvin Ham rumors were already swirling about candidates who could potentially replace him. We've heard a slew of names — some expected (Kenny Atkinson, Mike Budenholzer), some currently impossible (Jason Kidd, Ty Lue) and some wildcards (J.J. Redick, Charles Lee).

But one former Laker came up witht the wildest card of them all.

Byron Scott played 11 seasons for the Lakers, winning three titles. He also coached the Lakers for two full seasons, from 2014 to 2016, before being replaced by Luke Walton, who gave way to Frank Vogel, who was eventually replaced by Ham. In a recent appearance on Undisputed, Scott floated the idea of LeBron James as the next head coach of the Lakers.

“My recommendation [for] the next Lakers coach, and out of the eight or nine names that I've heard, his name wasn't on there, is make LeBron the coach. Make him the coach. Listen, I got nothing but love and respect for LeBron, I love him. I think he's one of the greatest players that ever played this game, but it's obvious to me at least, that he's making a lot of decisions that's going on in this organization from a coaching standpoint to a player standpoint. So if you're going to allow him to make those decisions, alright, sit on the bench and make those decisions as well as be head coach.”

LeBron James can't be the next head coach of the Lakers

It's certainly an interesting idea but it's not possible unless LeBron is willing to retire immediately. League rules have prohibited player-coaches since 1985 which means he'd have to choose between player and coach.

The rule was initially put in place to keep teams from working around salary cap rules which don't dictate coaching salaries and, were it still allowed, would be a creative approach for the Lakers in trying to convince LeBron to stick around.

That being said, I don't think Scott's proposal is entirely serious, regardless of the cap rules. His statement is less about hiring LeBron as a basketball no-brainer and more about holding LeBron publicly accountable for the personnel and strategic decisions he's influencing behind the scenes. LeBron wasn't yet a Laker when Scott was fired but you can't help but hear a note of bitterness in there about the way he may have feel he was given short shrift.

Regardless — fun idea to think about entirely hypothetical until LeBron retires or the league changes their rules.