An NBA executive who spoke to Hoops Wire said he believes that Dan Hurley knew he wasn't leaving UConn to coach the Los Angeles Lakers all along. But he did feign interest to get more money out of UConn, the exec alleged.
And hey, if so, nothing wrong with any of that. It's the way things work in not just sports, but the actual real world.
Per Ashish Mathur of Hoops Wire:
"The exec said Hurley 'was never going to leave UConn' and that he used his relationship with Wojnarowski and the 'Lakers name' to get an increase in his salary from Connecticut.
"The Lakers turned their attention to Hurley after word got out that Hurley was in extension negotiations with UConn. Los Angeles offered Hurley a six-year, $70 million contract.
"While Hurley was impressed by the Lakers' presentation during his interview, he was never seriously going to leave the powerhouse program he built at UConn, the NBA exec told Hoops Wire.
"Hurley played this perfectly. He gets to stay at UConn and pursue a third straight title while getting a pay raise. Hurley's father and wife had no interest in leaving the East Coast for Los Angeles, per Rick Pitino."
Interestingly, many insiders predicted long before this that Hurley had no intention of ever leaving UConn. Even St. John's coach Rick Pitino said the same.
"What I'm hearing — and I have no [inside information] — is that his father [Bob Hurley Sr.] and his wife [Andrea] are very strong in his life and they don't want to go," Pitino told Dave Blezow of The New York Post. "I think he's going to try it, no different than [John] Calipari tried it or I tried it. I don't think he's going to take the job, but I think he's going to try the pros someday."
So, yeah. Despite all the "inside stuff" out there about Hurley, it'd be a shocker if he really intended to leave UConn, the program with which he has won back-to-back national championships.
