A familiar face will be the new head coach of one of the Warriors’ chief rivals, as Tyronn Lue is finalizing a deal to become the Los Angeles Clippers’ next head coach, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday.
Lue was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers when they came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to beat the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, after he took over for David Blatt following his midseason firing. Lue was the head coach in Cleveland for parts of four seasons, also losing to the Warriors both in the 2017 and 2018 Finals.
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He was fired just six games into the 2018-19 season, and spent last season as the Clippers’ top assistant under Doc Rivers.
The Clippers were projected by many to be a bona fide title contender with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard in the fold, but LA surprisingly was eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals during the NBA’s bubble playoffs.
As the Warriors hope to be back among the contenders in the West after a down season, Lue and the Clippers definitely will be one of the teams standing in the way of another championship.
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