Being the Lakers coach has a lot of drawbacks. You’ll be blamed if they lose and you aren’t even the one calling the shots. You’ll be scrutinized and constantly in the news. Then you’ll be fired before your contract is up. However, there is a plus side. You can sign a long term deal knowing you’ll get paid in full while only working 1/3 of the deal before being fired. Sure, your career is most likely over at that point, but the layout and lack of work is pretty incredible.
That's the problem with the Lakers. The pressure by being a coach in LA is too high, and I consider the environment around it as harsh. As for the Lakers, we've seen it happen in their past 2 coach in Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham. Even though both coaches gave them a title (NBA Title and In-season tournament), they didn't immune to the criticisms from their fans and other audiences. Maybe this is the problem when you are in a team which is considered "all-time great".
With regards to the contract, just look at Monty Williams on the Pistons. They gave him a huge contract at the start of the season, and when the Pistons saw what happened to them, they fired him just a few days ago. They still owe him around $70 Million for 6 years (IIRC) which is pretty great. Career is most likely over? I guess so, but he can just sign with another team as a head coach if he wants to and some team wants him. At the end of the day, things like this are pretty common already especially now that many teams always wanted to have a new coach if they see their team struggling all throughout the regular season.
They are using that kind of strategy so that fans will blame the coach. They don't even care how much money they pay as long as the management comes out clean. But I seriously doubt that their fans see it like that.
I remember that one game where the Pistons fans were chanting "Sell the team!" That's one hell of a big proof that their fans knew that the Pistons' management could not even make a good roster that would put them in the playoffs again.
So this is a win-win for coach Monty and I am sure someone or some team out there would like him to be on their coaching staff.
Here is what the Pistons' management said.
“Coaching has many dynamic challenges that emerge during a season and Monty always handled those with grace. However, after reviewing our performance carefully and assessing our current position as an organization, we will chart a new course moving forward,” he added.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/20/sport/detroit-pistons-fire-monty-williams-intl-spt/index.htmlMoving forward? I hope it's for good.