One of the Lakers’ coaching candidates is off the board

After firing Darvin Ham last week, the Los Angeles Lakers seem ready to take their time when it comes to deciding who to hire as their new head coach.

It seems like the smart thing to do. There aren’t any extremely attractive candidates available, but there are a few interesting ones who could possibly get the job done.

LeBron James is widely expected to stay with the Lakers, which means they’ll still be in win-now mode. That means they will require a coach who has the ability to get them to succeed right now without needing time to grow into a winning coach.

One of their rumored candidates has been Charles Lee, who is currently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics. But Los Angeles will not be able to hire him: He has agreed to become the next head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

Lee never played a regular season game in the NBA. He was a member of the San Antonio Spurs’ summer league roster in 2006 following four seasons at Bucknell University. But he, apparently, has been well-liked and respected by Celtics players during his lone season there.

He previously served alongside Ham on Mike Budenholzer’s staff for nine years, first with the Atlanta Hawks and then with the Milwaukee Bucks.