On Monday, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka announced that the organization has fired head coach Frank Vogel, after a disappointing 33-49 season in 2021-22 which prevented the Lakers from making the playoffs.  Pelinka said in a news release: “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Frank both on and off the court. Frank is a great coach and a good man. We will forever be grateful to him for his work in guiding us to the 2019-20 NBA championship. This is an incredibly difficult decision to make, but one we feel is necessary at this point. All of us here wish Frank and his wonderful family all the best for the future.”   Pelinka added at a press conference that the Lakers felt that it was “time for a new voice.  He was a great coach here and he’s going to go on to be a great coach somewhere else. We just felt like it was time for a new leader.”

The 48-year-old Vogel went 127-98 over four seasons with the Western Conference franchise, and had an 18-9 record with the Lakers in the postseason, including the franchise’s 2019-20 title run amid the league’s coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

Vogel has a 431-389 overall regular-season record in his 11 seasons as an NBA head coach. He was fired in 2018, after he led the Orlando Magic to a 54-110 record in two seasons with the franchise. Vogel also went 250-181 in six seasons with the Indiana Pacers, but was fired in 2016. He held previous roles as an assistant with the Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.

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