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The Los Angeles Lakers should be ashamed of themselves this morning. Not the players. Not the coaches. But everyone associated with the front office.
Because what happened Sunday night was embarrassing and classless.
In case you missed it, right after their final game of the season last night (which the Lakers actually win in OT over the Nuggets), ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that according to a source the team will be firing head coach Frank Vogel and that the decision could become official as early as today.
This happened before Vogel even stepped into the room for his postgame press conference and it led to a very awkward moment for the coach, who also happens to be a human being and deserves to be treated a lot better by his employer.
Vogel responded to a question about the report of his impending firing by saying “I haven’t been told (expletive).”
That’s not great and the NBA world was quick to crush the Lakers over it.
Some fans got mad at Woj for tweeting the news after the final whistle but this has nothing to do with Woj. He deserves no blame here. Zero.
All the blame falls on the Lakers because someone within the organization shared that information with Woj and knew exactly what would happen with that information. Woj isn’t making things up and just throwing it on Twitter. People in high places tell him things.
Vogel deserves a lot better than this. He led the team to a championship in the bubble in Orlando just two years ago, which was an incredible accomplishment when you remember just how insanely challenging that whole situation was.
The Lakers should have more respect for a man who has done so much for them. And they should just treat people better than how they handled this situation.
This year Vogel was given a roster that had glaring problems and weaknesses. Add injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis along the way and there was no way any coach was going to lead this team to a successful year.
But to leak that info and to have him sit in that press conference and take those questions was just a classless thing to do and the Lakers’ front office should be ashamed of itself.
What a gross thing to do.
And what a dysfunctional franchise that thinks so highly of itself but in reality is a total mess and is set up to be even more of a mess in the coming years.
Quick hits: Golf fans crush Nick Faldo for spoiling big moment… Tiger Woods’ special walk up 18… Freedie Freeman’s sweet gesture… And more.
– Nick Faldo spoiled Rory McIlroy’s amazing birdie on the 18th hole yesterday at the Masters and golf fans rightfully crushed him for it.
– Tiger Woods had such a special walk up to the 18th green yesterday.
– Freddie Freeman consoling a teary José Iglesias at first base was just the sweetest gesture.
– Scottie Scheffler and his wife celebrated his Masters win with a hug-filled walk that fans loved.
– Speaking of Scheffler, the Masters champ has won so much money the past few months.
