The Los Angeles Lakers have interviewed former Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks for an assistant role on Frank Vogel’s staff, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times.
Brooks and the Wizards parted ways after he was head coach for five seasons. He guided Washington to the playoffs three times. In his first season there, the Wizards won 49 games and came a Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, the Wizards were unable to duplicate their Year 1 success with Brooks. After a first-round exit in Year 2, the Wizards failed to reach the playoffs the next two seasons. Last season, following the John Wall-Russell Westbrook trade, the Wizards were looking to get back to their winning ways.
Unfortunately the team failed to reach .500 for the third straight season. They did reach the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the East. However, Brooks’ tenure ended with another first-round exit.
Brooks rekindled his close relationship with Westbrook, who he coached seven seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook endorsed Brooks to return as the Wizards coach. Momentarily it appeared Westbrook was going to get his wish before news broke of the Wizards and Brooks going their separate ways.
As a head coach Brooks has a .557 winning percentage with 521 wins. Brooks guided the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals with the trio of Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden. Brooks has been an assistant in three stops as well — Denver, Sacramento and OKC. He was last an assistant in 2008-09 with the Thunder before being promoted to head coach.
The Lakers are already expected to add former NBA head coach David Fizdale to Vogel’s staff as a Jason Kidd replacement. Kidd became the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks last month. The Lakers could boost their coaching staff adding Fizdale and Brooks.
Meanwhile, the Wizards are still looking for Brooks’ replacement at head coach. They’ve interviewed a number of candidates, including former Wizards assistant Sam Cassell.
