Duke basketball: Coach K’s name appears as longshot for Lakers job

The Duke basketball legend will always be subject to wishful thinking.

Chances are the only people who regularly cross paths with former 42-year Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski next season will be his family members and fellow retirees on a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean.

But reality has never stopped dreamers from dreaming. Therefore, whenever a high-profile NBA job becomes available across the next five years or more, it’s likely that Coach K’s name will pop up somewhere as a darkhorse candidate.

If nothing else, these inevitable future mentions are simply a testament to the Hall of Famer’s storied career and the respect that NBA minds and talents have for him.

Now, it’s already happening, less than two weeks since UNC ended the 75-year-old’s final run with its 81-77 win over Duke in the Final Four.

After parting ways with Frank Vogel this week, the no-postseason Los Angeles Lakers and their 37-year-old superstar, LeBron James, are searching for a new head coach.

And on Tuesday, theScore, which has more than 600,000 followers on Twitter, tabbed Krzyzewski — who built a lasting bond with James while guiding Team USA to gold medals galore — on a 12-deep list of candidates as one of “The Longshots.”

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari, and retired “Zen Master” Phil Jackson are the other three in that category.

A different Duke basketball name sitting atop the list

Of the four men theScore placed in the “Early Frontrunners” section, three are active head coaches in the league. The first there is eighth-year Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, who played at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski in the late 1980s and then served as an assistant in Durham for much of the 1990s.

Much to the dismay of many Utah fans, speculation about Snyder potentially taking over in Los Angeles began swirling weeks ago, well before Frank Vogel officially lost his job.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the 55-year-old Snyder has the Jazz back in the NBA Playoffs — as the Western Conference’s No. 5 seed this time — for the sixth straight season. Plus, seeing that he’s under contract beyond this year, it’d ultimately be up to the franchise to decide if he may leave Salt Lake City for another NBA gig.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball news and views.