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Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni looks back on 'turbulent times' as Lakers coach

Mike D’Antoni knew he still wanted to coach. What he didn’t know was if there was anyone left who would hire him to do it.

“When I left L.A., I was very real that I might not work again,” D’Antoni said this summer. “And I was fine with that. I’m old enough to go do other things and be fine with it.”

He last coached in 2014, when 27-55 still qualified as the worst season in Lakers history. Steve Nash was constantly battling injury, and D’Antoni was constantly battling Kobe Bryant.

D’Antoni revisited the uncertainty of the period following his brief tenure with the Lakers in July while waiting for the Houston Rockets Summer League team to take the floor at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.