Dan Hurley pushes back against ‘lazy’ narrative that he used Lakers as leverage

It’s silly to think Dan Hurley used the Lakers to get more money from UConn, at least according to him.

The Lakers Dan Hurley love affair was short-lived but exhilarating.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the Lakers were not only pursuing Hurley, but he was the team’s No. 1 candidate from the start.

That certainly raised eyebrows, especially since it was widely considered that the Lakers were "zeroing in" on JJ Redick as the next head coach.

Whether you buy the Woj report of No. 1 from the start or not, the pursuit of Hurley was real. The Lakers reportedly offered him a six-year, $70 million offer, which the UConn coach ultimately declined despite calling the offer a "once in a lifetime" deal.

In the aftermath, some fans have hypothesized that while the Lakers' offer may have been legitimate, it was largely just a ploy by Hurley to get more money out of UConn on his next contract. He was never really interested in coaching in the NBA or for the Lakers and this was simply a way to make his bag bigger.

In an interview on “The Dan Le Batard Show” on Thursday, Hurley emphatically threw cold water on this notion.

“One of the worst takes I’ve heard is this was a leverage play by me to improve my situation at UConn. Like, I don’t need leverage here. We’ve won back-to-back national championships at this place. This was never a leverage situation for me. I’ve had a contract (extension) in place here for a couple of weeks and the financial part in terms of salary has been done for a while.

Just some other parts like NIL and staff salaries and some different things that I want adjusted that I’m not comfortable with. But the sense or the idea that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is just lazy. It was truly a gut-wrenching decision for me because I was really, Sunday night going into Monday where I had kind of a deadline in my mind, I was torn and I didn’t know, really, what I was going to do until I went to bed.”

Could Hurley have used the Lakers to get more money and perks from UConn?

Perhaps, especially if a new deal hasn't been signed, there is no better way to apply more pressure to get things done than by creating demand and urgency.

Is it ridiculous for fans to think Hurley used the Lakers? Of course not. In the end, he declined the Lakers job and he did so rather quickly. While a deal with UConn is imminent and was on the table before the Lakers came calling, according to Hurley, it would be naive to think that the Lakers interest and offer did not impact the proceedings either.

So, the truth likely lies in the middle.

Hurley seems to have taken the Lakers' offer seriously. However, when he considered all possibilities, he opted to stay where he was, just like Mike Krzyzewski did in 2004 when he was debating leaving Duke University for the Lakers.

It's hard to leave a good job for another, even if it's the Lakers.

In the end, regardless of his reason, he won't be coaching professionally in Southern California and the Lakers will have to look at their other candidates and find one who will.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.