Lakers head coach appeared to find out he was fired at a press conference after the last game of the season
- Lakers head coach Frank Vogel appeared to learn he was going to be fired from a reporter at a press conference.
- Reports circulated of Vogel's firing after the Lakers' last game, but Vogel said he hadn't "been told shit."
Frank Vogel appeared to learn he was fired as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers during his final postgame press conference of the season.
The Lakers concluded a disappointing campaign with a 146-141 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets. They finished 33-49 and missed qualifying for the play-in tournament, which would have kept their postseason hopes alive.
At 9:31 PM PT, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted, "Frank Vogel has coached his final game for the Lakers, a decision that's expected to be shared with him as soon as Monday, sources tell ESPN."
While speaking to reporters, Vogel was told about Wojnarowski's tweet and asked for his reaction.
"My reaction is, I haven't been told shit," Vogel said, laughing. "And I'm going to enjoy tonight's game, celebrate what these young guys did ... and we'll deal with tomorrow tomorrow."
The Lakers officially announced Vogel's firing at 11 A.M. PT on Monday. In a statement, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka said: "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."
Many in the NBA world suspected that Vogel would not be retained as head coach. The Lakers never got their footing this season, as injuries kept LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook from playing more than 21 games together all season.
Still, Vogel's rotations often drew the ire of fans, and the Lakers were inconsistent from quarter to quarter. They frequently went down by double-digits in the first quarter and failed to fight back. Other times, they built big leads and blew them.
In January, The Athletic reported that Vogel was coaching for his job. Those rumors eventually died down, but the Lakers' performance did not improve. They went just 6-18 after the All-Star break, a period where many expected them to make a push for the postseason.
The handling of the news on Sunday rubbed some the wrong way, however, as Vogel helped the Lakers win a championship in 2019-20. The Athletic's Bill Oram ripped the Lakers, writing:
"The most disastrous season in the history of the Lakers franchise was punctuated by one of its most deplorable moments. A proud franchise brought shame upon itself by being unable to remember that on the receiving end of that pink slip is a human being."
Wojnarowski reported that there is no frontrunner to replace Vogel.