Lakers fire title-winning head coach Frank Vogel after 3 seasons

The Los Angeles Lakers fired Frank Vogel on Monday, choosing their championship-winning head coach to take the first fall for one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history.

Los Angeles wildly underachieved this season, finishing 33-49 and missing the 10-team Western Conference playoffs in a humiliating conclusion to a year that began with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and a veteran-laden supporting cast widely expected to contend for another championship.

Vogel was fired exactly 18 months after he led the Lakers to the franchise's 17th title in his first season in charge. Almost nothing has gone right in the ensuing two seasons for the rosters assembled by general manager Rob Pelinka and coached by Vogel, who went 127-98 in his three seasons running the club. He was under contract through next season.

"Frank is a great coach and a good man," Pelinka said in a statement. "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."

ESPN reported Vogel's imminent firing immediately after the Lakers finished the season by beating Denver in overtime Sunday night. During an awkward post-game news conference, Vogel admitted he had not yet been told of the club's decision before it was leaked to ESPN.

It was a dismal, embarrassing end to a tenure that began tremendously for Vogel, the former coach at Orlando and Indiana. The Lakers claimed a title in the Florida bubble in October 2020, but didn't win another playoff round in the next two seasons.

Despite another impressive season from the 37-year-old James, the Lakers never jelled this season with a roster including nine players over 30 and 11 players who weren't with the team last season. Davis managed to play in only 40 of their 82 games, while Westbrook struggled mightily to fit into the Lakers' team concept during one of the worst seasons of his professional career.

After so much preseason ballyhoo around the teaming of James, Davis and Westbrook, the trio managed to play in only 21 games together — and went 11-10. The Lakers used 41 different starting lineups.

"At the end of the day, the reason why we weren't very good together is we weren't on the damn floor together," James said. "You never got a chance to see what the ballclub could be."

James spoke to the media Monday morning before Vogel's fate was revealed by the Lakers' front office.

Vogel was hired in May 2019 to assemble a cohesive team around James and Davis, who was officially acquired from New Orleans two months later. Vogel's plans worked right away: His first team weathered the NBA's coronavirus shutdown and then won a ring, with Vogel leading a deep, defensively dominant group to the title.

Pelinka has thoroughly altered that championship roster since then, and the results have been catastrophic. Less than a full calendar year after the triumph in the bubble, only James, Davis and Talen Horton-Tucker remained on the roster to start this season — along with Dwight Howard, who left the team and returned.

Los Angeles went 42-30 last season while battling major injuries to Davis and James before losing to Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs.

Kings reportedly relieve Gentry of duties

Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings aren't bringing back interim head coach Alvin Gentry, multiple outlets reported Monday.

The Kings were 24-41 under Gentry, who replaced Luke Walton in November. Sacramento fired Walton 17 games into his third season after a 6-11 start. The Kings finished 30-52.

Gentry was told of the decision on Monday in a meeting with team executives. Instead, ESPN reported that Gentry and the team are discussing a front office role to satisfy the remaining one year on his contract.

The Kings failed to qualify for the post-season for the 16th straight season. They haven't finished at or above .500 since 2006 — the year Rick Adelman was fired after eight straight playoff appearances — and have had 12 coaches since then.

Reports indicated the Kings have an early list of candidates that includes former NBA head coaches Mark Jackson, Mike Brown, Kenny Atkinson and Steve Clifford.

Gentry, 67, previously was the head coach of the Miami Heat (interim), Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons, Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans. He has a career record of 534-636.