{"id":81399,"date":"2024-06-14T00:43:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T04:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=81399"},"modified":"2025-10-30T23:11:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:11:37","slug":"dan-hurley-teases-bryce-james-offer-lebron-james-lakers-texts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/14\/dan-hurley-teases-bryce-james-offer-lebron-james-lakers-texts\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Hurley Teases Bryce James Offer After Father\u2019s Lakers Texts"},"content":{"rendered":"

While LeBron James<\/a> may be disappointed that Dan Hurley wasn\u2019t completely wooed by the Los Angeles Lakers, he saw a silver lining when the two-time NCAA champion decided to stay at UConn. With the Huskies, Hurley was still in position to coach at least one member of the James Gang.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Hurley breaks down his reason<\/a> for turning down the Lakers\u2019 offer. The 51-year-old has gone on a bit of a media run towards the end of this week. He told The Herd\u2019s Colin Cowherd that James texted him to and through<\/a> the process. He told the Le Batard Show\u2019s Dan Le Batard that there was an offer<\/a> L.A. could\u2019ve made to get him to leave UConn. With Norlander, he made note of the ramifications of his decision extending to James\u2019s sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the pluses,\u201d Hurley begins, speaking of the chance to coach James Sr. first. \u201cIt was one of the draws, was the chance, in your lifetime, to have coached one of the greatest players of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Hurley Teases Bryce James Offer After LeBron\u2019s Lakers Texts<\/h2>\n

Though perhaps starstruck by the prospect of coaching him, Hurley also believed it would have been to James\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of confidence that my work ethic and my expertise and my ability to connect with him would have made for a great partnership there,\u201d Hurley says assuredly. Again noting that he and James had \u201ctexted some,\u201d he adds: \u201cI’m smart enough to have had some communication there, because you would want to, obviously, begin that relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurley then all but inexplicably notes that James has \u201csons that are really good at basketball, if I was going to stay in college.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a curious comment from the New Jersey native. Of James\u2019s two sons, only one of them is still eligible to play college basketball: Bryce Maximus James.<\/p>\n

Development Is Paramount<\/h3>\n

Bryce Maximus is a three-star shooting guard<\/a> in the Class of 2025. Per ESPN, he already holds offers from Ohio State \u2014for obvious reasons \u2014and Duquesne. Duquesne, seen as one of the favorites<\/a> to land brother Bronny James had he withdrawn from the draft, has hired Dru Joyce III. A high school teammate of their father at St. Vincent-St. Mary, Joyce would likely prioritize the development of James Sr.\u2019s sons.<\/p>\n

For that reason alone, it makes sense for he and Hurley to plant the seeds for a relationship. Should Bryce Maximus receive an offer from the Huskies, James could rest easy knowing that he\u2019s in Hurley\u2019s hands. Just consider that Donovan Clingan<\/a>, ranked 56th on the ESPN 100, is in contention to be a top-three pick. Teammate Stephon Castle<\/a>, ranked 12th in the ESPN 100, is projected to be a top-10 pick. With those two prospects, Hurley\u2019s ability to sharpen iron and keep players on task is well-represented.<\/p>\n

Indeed, considering Castle\u2019s skillset, Hurley would\u2019ve likely been able to get a better performance from James Jr. than Andy Enfield. His younger brother has better length and is more aggressive though, so it would be interesting to see how he fared at UConn. Already 6-foot-6 and 180 pounds, the 18-year-old\u2019s body and skills continue to develop. Learning from a coach with Hurley\u2019s acumen would only increase his chances of having success in the NBA.<\/p>\n

The Golden Nugget<\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2026At the end of the day, I get to coach 18- and 19-year-old kids,\u201d Hurley says. \u201cAnd you can make an impact. I’ll go sit at the draft in 10 days with people whose lives you helped change.\u00a0 That, to me, matters a lot.<\/p>\n

Once the money and the ego and all that stuff is out, I love coaching. I love to run a program. That’s what’s important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While LeBron James may be disappointed that Dan Hurley wasn\u2019t completely wooed by the Los Angeles Lakers, he saw a silver lining when the two-time NCAA champion decided to stay at UConn. With the Huskies, Hurley was still in position to coach at least one member of the James Gang. In an interview with Matt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":81402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,556,3],"tags":[4572,49298,5008,38,4557,481],"class_list":["post-81399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-bronny-james","tag-bryce-james","tag-dan-hurley","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-offseason","tag-ncaa"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165022,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81399\/revisions\/165022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}