Lakers fire NBA title-winning coach Vogel due to a disappointing season
Frank Vogel masterminded the 17th championship in the Los Angeles Lakers’ remarkable history in his first season on their bench.
Exactly 18 months after that triumph, he also became part of the Lakers’ past.
The Lakers fired Vogel on Monday, choosing their title-winning coach to take the first fall for one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history.
Los Angeles finished 3349 and missed the 10-team Western Conference playoffs this season. It was a humiliating underachievement for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and a veteran-laden supporting cast widely expected to contend for another championship.
Vogel was under contract through next season, but almost nothing has gone right over the past two seasons for the rosters assembled by general manager Rob Pelinka and coached by Vogel, who went 127-98 in his three seasons running the club.
Pelinka declined to elaborate Monday on why he and owner Jeanie Buss felt Vogel needed to be fired.
Women’s basketball
DREAM SELECT HOWARD WITH NO. 1 PICK IN THE WNBA DRAFT » Rhyne Howard is headed to the Atlanta Dream as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft.
The Kentucky senior was selected first at the first inperson draft for the league since 2019 because of the coronavirus. The Dream traded up two spots last week to acquire the No. 1 pick from the Washington Mystics.
Atlanta finished 8-24 last season and has missed the playoffs four of the past five years. The franchise got new ownership last year and brought in a new coach in Tanisha Wright and new general manager Dan Padover. The Dream also had the No. 1 pick in 2009 and used it to draft Angel McCoughtry.
The WNBA season tips off on May 6, with training camps opening later this week.
NFL
GARY BROWN, FORMER RUNNING BACK AND COACH, DIES AT 52 » Gary Brown, who rushed for 4,300 yards while playing on three NFL teams in the 1990s before going on to coach running backs in the pro and college ranks, has died. He was 52.
Wisconsin’s athletic department and the Dallas Cowboys announced that Brown died Sunday. No cause of death was disclosed. Brown had battled cancer on multiple occasions.
Brown had coached Wisconsin’s running backs last season before departing for health-related reasons. He coached the Cowboys’ running backs from 2013-19.
MLB
LERNER FAMILY EXPLORING SELLING MLB’S WASHINGTON NATIONALS » The Lerner family that has owned the Washington Nationals since 2006 is exploring the possibility of selling the Major League Baseball franchise.
The Lerners are hiring a firm to find potential investors to buy part or all of the Nationals was first reported by the Washington Post.
Forbes valued the team at $2 billion. Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets in 2020 for $2.4 billion.
Soccer
FOX TO TELEVISE 35 OF 64 WORLD CUP MATCHES ON MAIN NETWORK » Fox will televise 35 World Cup matches on its main Fox broadcast network, including all three U.S. first-round games in Qatar and all from the quarterfinals on.
The total on the Fox network is down from 38 at the 2018 tournament in Russia. There will be 29 on the FS1 cable network, an increase of three, Fox said.
This year’s tournament was shifted from its usual June-July period until Nov. 21 to Dec. 18 because of the summer heat in Qatar. With the NFL in season, the four Sunday group matches on Nov. 27 and the two Sunday round-of-16 matches on Dec. 4 will be on FS1. Twenty-seven of the FS1 matches are in the group stage.
Tennis
BUBLIK CUTS SHORT WAWRINKA’S RETURN TO TOUR AFTER INJURY » Alexander Bublik cut short Stan Wawrinka’s return to the tour, defeating the Swiss 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters in his first singles match in 13 months.