UConn coach Dan Hurley insisted that his shared interest in the Los Angeles Lakers' coaching vacancy was not a "leverage play," and that he truly considered taking the job. He also exchanged some texts with LeBron James.
"One of the worst takes I've heard is that this is a leverage play by me to improve my situation at UConn," Hurley said on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz."I don't need leverage here. We've won back-to-back national championships at this place. This was never a leverage situation for me.
"I've had a contract in place here for a couple of weeks. And the final part, in terms of salary, has been done for a while. There are some other parts, like NIL and staff salary and some different things, that I want adjusted and I'm not comfortable with. But the sense of the idea that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is just, it's lazy."