Sources: LA Expected to Part Ways with Vogel After Season, Early Candidates Emerging

The Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of elimination.

The Lakers would become ineligible for the NBA's second annual Play-In Tournament after a loss at league-leading Phoenix on Tuesday night.

The chapter on this season is almost certain to close this week if not Tuesday. Los Angeles is two games behind San Antonio for the final, 10th spot in the Western Conference playoffs and has also lost the tiebreaker to the Spurs.

Los Angeles stumbled out of the playoff picture on its own accord, despite being blamed for injuries or other misfortunes. San Antonio had no plan to compete for the playoffs. The Spurs completed a series of deals that swapped veterans such as White and Young for future first-round draft capital.

One Western Conference official said that the Spurs were good enough to just keep treading.

Los Angeles has a worse record in the second half of the season than Portland has, and the Trail blazers have designated multiple players inactive due to injury with clear intentions of securing greater positioning in the NBA draft lottery.

Sources told B/R that the Lakers are expected to part ways with Frank Vogel as the end of the campaign draws closer, and that there is no shortage of potential candidates linked to the bench.

Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder is often mentioned as a possible replacement for Vogel. In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Snyder said that his focus was on his team and his guys. I feel like addressing hypotheticals in any form is disrespectful.

It hasn't dispelled the rumors that the Lakers assistant may leave the Jazz after this season, especially as Utah has taken its own tumble down the Western Conference table. The Jazz have lost six of their last seven games. The microscope has shifted back to the long-term prospects of the Mitchell and Gobert partnership.

There is some skepticism around the NBA that would suggest that the Lakers marriage is something that Snyder would be interested in. Even if Popovich stays on the Spurs sideline for the 2022-23 season, he would still be a candidate to succeed him one day.

Doc Rivers, the Philadelphia 76ers head coach, is being mentioned as a potential Lakers candidate by league personnel. Rivers tenure in Philadelphia has come into question of late, spurred by team president Daryl Morey's deadline acquisition of James Harden and the mounting speculation that followed about a potential reunification with Harden.

Rivers has been linked by several league sources as a potential replacement for the Jazz in the event that Snyder leaves Utah. Danny Ainge was the Jazz CEO when Rivers was the head coach in Boston.

There will be other candidates to replace him. Several league figures contacted by B/R mentioned the possibility that Lakers senior basketball adviser Kurt Rambis could return to the sideline after several previous coaching stops in the league, including an interim stint as Los Angeles' head coach. Rambis is not likely to resume a coaching role, as he is an important figure in the front office.

As the Lakers are expected to focus on candidates with previous experience, former Los Angeles head coach and current Warriors assistant Mike Brown is known to have interest in departing Golden State for another opportunity in a team's first chair. The same is said for Steve Clifford, most recently the Magic's head coach, who served as a Lakers assistant in 2012-13. Los Angeles, as has been the franchise's custom, will prioritize coaching candidates with past connections to the organization.

Los Angeles won't have many options for turnover outside of the coaching staff. Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation say that the Lakers will not consider trading Anthony Davis this summer. The Lakers believe that a healthy pair of Davis and James can once more boast a championship-contending ceiling as it did in 2020.

The Lakers may revisit their outgoing package of Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn that was frequently discussed with rival front offices ahead of February's trade deadline, but how vice president Rob Pelinka and Los Angeles remake the roster may be limited to a potential Russell Westbrook trade. The Lakers were close to sending Horton-Tucker to Toronto in a three-team deal. Nunn is expected to pick up his $5.25 million player option for next season after not playing in a game this year.

Outside of a framework that would deliver John Wall to Los Angeles, the options to move Westbrook are limited. The Lakers are willing to send Houston a future first-round pick in exchange for the swap. The 2022-23 NBA calendar will allow Los Angeles to trade its first-round picks in both of the next two years.

The Lakers will have to consider a future without Monk, who is third on the team in both total minutes played and points scored. Monk, the 11th pick in the NBA draft, signed a minimum-salary contract with Los Angeles after four seasons in Charlotte.

Monk thrived alongside James this season, shooting over 39 percent from three for the second straight campaign and scoring 17.2 points per 36 minutes, despite not getting much free-agent interest last summer.

Monk's next salary has ranged from an average annual value between $5 million and $10 million, far above the minimum number that the Lakers were able to sign him for this season.