Lakers news: Signing Kevin Durant means replacing Byron Scott with Scott Brooks

The Los Angeles Lakers could be in the position to sign Kevin Durant in the summer, but that could mean firing head coach Byron Scott and replacing him with former OKC Thunder coach Scott Brooks.

The Lakers are already facing another dismal campaign and may have already knew they will miss the playoffs even before the regular season ends. But the bright side for the Lakers is their position to finally acquire a top free agent in the summer, when players like Durant are up for grabs.

Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders listed scenarios the Lakers should consider to lure Durant in donning the Purple and Gold. While Pincus’ overall assessment has the Lakers the less favourite to sign the two-time scoring champion, he did note an interesting factor that could effectively catch Durant’s attention once free agency hits.

“Former Thunder coach Scott Brooks has an established relationship with Durant,” Pincus wrote. “The Lakers need to consider Brooks as a possible draw.”

Durant has always been fascinated in playing for Brooks, who was sacked from his coaching job after Oklahoma City missed the playoffs for the first time in six full seasons as head coach. In 2012, Brooks helped Durant and the Thunder to an NBA Finals appearance, where they lost to the Lebron James-led Miami Heat.

Lakers head coach Scott still has one more season in his contract and has close relationship with the team-owning Buss family. However, the Lakers have shown they are capable of firing coaches just like what they did to Mike D’Antoni and Mike Brown.

However, NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical believes the Lakers, along with the Washington Wizards, are not frontrunners for Durant as KD35 “wants to win a championship.”

“Kevin Durant wants to win a Championship right away,” Wojnarowski told Fox Sports as chronicled by The Big Lead. “Either he wants to do that in Oklahoma City, with the group they have, or he’s going to go somewhere he can win a title right away.”

Durant was quoted last week by the Boston Globe about playing for a team that has “great people” around, and it seems Brooks fit the bill of what the Thunder forward had described. The Lakers are clearly not the frontrunners to land Durant, but with the future looking bright in LA, they have a serious chance for another marquee signing.