After parting ways with head coach Mike Brown only five games into the 2012-13 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers courted former coach Phil Jackson to bring out of retirement. Although Jackson seriously considered the proposition, the Lakers brass went in another direction seemingly out of nowhere by hiring Mike D’Antoni.
Following two disappointing seasons and the departure of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol in free agency, D’Antoni resigned as Lakers head coach in April of 2014. D’Antoni struggled in Los Angeles in the same way he did during his time with the New York Knicks. All the success D’Antoni had with the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns seemed to have faded away as his system never really caught on with the Lakers or Knicks.