Los Angeles Lakers fire coach Frank Vogel after three seasons

The Los Angeles Lakers announced Monday that they have parted ways with head coach Frank Vogel. 

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Frank both on and off the court," Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement released by the team. "Frank is a great coach and a good man. We will forever be grateful to him for his work in guiding us to the 2019-20 NBA championship. This is an incredibly difficult decision to make, but one we feel is necessary at this point. All of us here wish Frank and his wonderful family all the best for the future."

Vogel oversaw the LeBron James-led Lakers for three seasons, winning an NBA championship in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. However, L.A. made an appearance in the play-in tournament last season before losing in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. This season, the Lakers finished 11th in the West (33-49), failing to qualify for postseason play.

Vogel put together a 126-98 overall record in his three seasons in L.A., but this season proved to be his undoing, as the Lakers struggled to stay healthy and lost three or more games in a row eight times on the season, including an 8-22 mark over their last 30 games.

After Sunday's season finale, a 146-141 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets, Vogel was asked about his job status after an ESPN report said he would be fired as soon as Monday. 

Vogel said he hadn't heard from the team regarding his future.

After Phil Jackson served as the head coach in L.A. from 2005-2011, the Lakers have struggled to find consistency on the sidelines. Since then, L.A. has cycled through five head coaches that have coached at least 70 games: Mike Brown (2011-12), Mike D'Antoni (2012-14), Byron Scott (2014-16), Luke Walton (2016-19) and Vogel (2019-22). 

But it appears the Lakers' recent struggles aren't all about coaching. Vogel had two winning seasons in his three years, but Brown, D'Antoni, Scott and Walton had a combined two seasons above .500.

Where the Lakers will turn now remains to be seen. Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, who played for the Lakers from 1998-2001, 76ers coach Doc Rivers, and Jazz coach Quin Snyder have been rumored to be candidates for the team's open job.

The Lakers were the lone team in the NBA that failed to have any single five-man lineup play 100 minutes together, while the trio of James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis appeared in just 21 games as a unit. L.A. kept itself afloat in the playoff race heading into the All-Star break, but lost 18 of its 24 games following the All-Star game. Just three teams had a worse record over that period.

The "First Things First" crew had mixed reactions to the development.

Nick Wright wasn't impressed by Vogel's final season in L.A. at all.

"I think the Lakers are a poorly-run, poorly-managed franchise," Wright said Monday morning on the show.

"Firing Vogel shouldn't hurt things. Frank Vogel made some lineup decisions by picking names out of a hat. Did you know that DeAndre Jordan started the eighth-most games for the Lakers this year? Think about that: Only seven guys started more games than a fossilized player who's been gone for three months.

"No, I don't think Vogel did a good job. If you're saying firing Vogel won't mean anything, then you're saying that coaching doesn't matter. The Lakers didn't have really good coaching this year." 

Kevin Wildes focused on Vogel's blindness to the development, pointing at Lakers management for their handling of his exit.

"I think the story here is how this is being relayed to Vogel," Wildes asserted.

Chris Broussard professed that Vogel's coaching was among the smallest of L.A.'s problems.

"Frank Vogel's a good coach," he stated.

"He did an excellent job years ago in Indiana. He struggled in Orlando, we all know that, but he led the Lakers to a championship. This isn't all his fault. But I'm fine with them moving on from him. It's fine to get rid of him, but I don't think he was the main problem."

The Lakers' issues are well documented, and Broussard elaborated on more than a few. But as of now, it appears the first area they're going to address is their coaching department.