Tyronn Lue — one of the most respected coaches in the NBA and someone other teams fantasized about poaching to take over their job — has agreed to a five-year contract to remain with the Clippers.
“This is where I want to be,” Lue said in a statement announcing the extension. “I’ve loved coaching this team for the past four years and I’m excited to head into a new era at Intuit Dome.”
“T Lue is everything we want in a head coach,” Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank said. “He’s a brilliant tactician and a natural leader with an extraordinary ability to connect with those around him, both players and staff. Four years ago, we felt privileged to hire T Lue, and we feel just as fortunate today. There’s no one we’d rather coach our team. T Lue is a pillar of the organization and will be for a very long time.”
This was expected even if the negotiations took a little time, and it’s a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN before the Clippers confirmed it. The contract will make Lue one of the highest-paid coaches in the league, with the deal being worth five years, $70 million ($14 million a year average), reports Shams Charania and Law Murray of The Athletic. Lue has a 184-134 (.579) record as coach of the Clippers the past four years and the team has made the playoffs three of those seasons despite battling injuries the entire way.
Most importantly for the Clippers, this provides stability during what could be a very unstable roster over the coming years. Los Angeles has locked up Kawhi Leonard with a three-year extension but is still in negotiations with Paul George (who can be a free agent and is a target of the 76ers, among others) and will have to re-sign James Harden this summer as well. Russell Westbrook has a $4 million player option for next season and may want to see if the market can offer him a larger role than in Los Angeles and maybe more money.
Whatever happens with George, Harden, and Westbrook this summer, it’s clear the Clippers’ roster will change in the coming years. This group is older and injury-prone in a West with rising young teams such as Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Memphis, Houston, and San Antonio. Locking up Lue gives the Clippers some stability during that transition, whatever it looks like.
Lue was mentioned early as someone the Lakers were interested in with their coaching search — partly because of Lue’s ties to LeBron James dating back to Cleveland — but that was always pure fantasy. Lue was under contract with the Clippers for next season before this extension and there was zero chance owner Steve Ballmer would let Lue out of his contract to coach the team’s cross-town rivals.
Now that fantasy is over as Lue has grabbed the bag and will bring it to the Intuit Dome starting in the fall.
