"LeBron James is almost 40": Basketball analyst defends Dan Hurley's decision of turning down Lakers job

Basketball analyst Zach Lowe thinks Dan Hurley made a good decision by turning down the head coaching job for the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley was reportedly offered a six-year deal for $70 million to be the head coach of the Lakers, but on Monday he decided to remain the coach of the UConn Huskies.

Part of the reason why Lowe thinks Hurley made the right call was due to LeBron James' age and the fact Los Angeles is not a title contender in the NBA right now.

"The Lakers job is not that great of a job," Lowe said on ESPN's 'Get Up.' "They are a play-in team pretty much every year in a conference that is getting better all around them from the bottom and the top and the middle, it is a fight every year just to get out of the play-in. LeBron is almost 40, what is the vision for this team after LeBron leaves?

"Yeah, they have Anthony Davis, that's great, they have Austin Reaves, some other things, but you are not staring at a no-brainer championship window."

Zach Lowe also thinks that had Dan Hurley taken the role, he wouldn't have been the coach for six years, as he would have been fired after three or four years.

"Every coach gets fired, I don't care how many years they have left on the contract, two, three years down the line they get fired," Lowe said. "It's easy to say someone is coming, as superstar, maybe that will be the case, we are not that far removed from the Lakers being a bad team for five or six years. I just don't think that this is that great of a job."

It is an interesting take from Lowe, as many think coaching James would be an opportunity many would jump at. However, James isn't even under contract for next season, so there is a chance he will leave in free agency.

But as Lowe said, even if James stays, the Lakers will have a hard time even getting out of the play-in, while Hurley has a legit chance of a three-peat at UConn.

Dan Hurley focused on winning another national championship with UConn

Dan Hurley will remain as the head coach of the UConn Huskies as he will look to lead the school to the third-straight national championship.

After turning down the offer from the Lakers, Hurley said he was humbled by the experience, but his heart is still at UConn.

“I am humbled by this entire experience,” Hurley said in a statement distributed by UConn, via Sportsnet. “At the end of the day, I am extremely proud of the championship culture we have built at Connecticut. We met as a team before today’s workout and our focus right now is getting better this summer and connecting as a team as we continue to pursue championships.”

Dan Hurley has been the Huskies coach since 2018 and has led the school to back-to-back national championships.