If the Kentucky Wildcats win the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the Los Angeles Lakers will likely try again to hire coach John Calipari. After reportedly being rebuffed by Calipari last year, the Lakers could have a better shot at luring him to the NBA if he wins the NCAA championship this year.
Multiple reports linked the Lakers to Calipari around this time last season, when Calipari's team was on the verge of reaching the NCAA title game and the Lakers were looking to make a splash after firing Mike D'Antoni. The first batch of Calipari-Lakers rumors came in April on the eve of the 2014 NCAA Championship game, with former Kentucky player Rex Chapman proclaiming hours before tipoff that it was a "done deal" Calipari would take over the Lakers.
Kentucky ended up losing the championship game, and Calipari dismissed the rumor shortly after and declared he was content coaching at the college level.
"I think I would be (better than my previous NBA stint) if I did it, but that's not the point for me," Calipari said April 15, via ESPN. "Can I say this in a humble way - I don't need the money. If I stop coaching today at Kentucky, my toes are up and I'm eating Cheetos and I'm fine.
"But here's my point: What's happening for me, what I'm feeling about coaching, goes beyond wins, goes beyond building a franchise. Can I do that in the NBA? If there was some place that I felt that it would be more than just coaching and trying to win ... I'm not there to help you build your franchise value or help sell tickets. That doesn't move me.
"What moves me now is what I'm doing and how I'm helping families."
Calipari's stance could change, though, if he were to go undefeated this season and win his second NCAA championship. What more could he accomplish at the collegiate level? The Lakers would likely see Calipari as more amendable to returning to the NBA and, at the very least, gauge his interest in taking over the storied franchise.
As for Los Angeles, pursuing Calipari again would be less an indictment on current coach Byron Scott, who's had a depleted roster to work with in his first season, and more the Lakers simply not letting a golden opportunity slip away.
