Philadelphia 76ers: The Los Angeles Lakers want Doc Rivers? Oh no!

Depending on who you ask, the Philadelphia 76ers and their head coach, Doc Rivers, are heading towards a very, very, very consequential offseason.

If things shake out perfectly, Rivers will become the first head coach to win “the big one” with the Sixers since Billy Cunningham all the way back in 1982-83 and only the third coach in franchise history to accomplish the feat alongside Alex Hannum in 1966-67 and original Syracuse Nationals head coach Al Cervi all the way back in 1954-55.

And if the Sixers fail to make it out of the second round, let alone fall short of that incredibly high ceiling? Well, Rivers might just be on his way out, as there are rumblings that Daryl Morey would like to re-pair up James Harden with his former Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and the players are starting to turn on their current clipboard holder.

Now granted, Doc Rivers’ current contract does run through 2024-25 and holds a cap hit of $8 million per season, so moving on from the championship-winning head coach would surely involve some work, but hey, if the Philadelphia 76ers do decide to move on from their current head coach, he might not have to wait too long to find a new gig, as the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly have interest in making him their next head coach this summer.

Here’s how Doc Rivers could leave the Philadelphia 76ers for Los Angeles.

Alright, so if the Philadelphia 76ers were to move on from Doc Rivers, how would it work? Well, Daryl Morey and company have three options at their disposal to do just that.

The most obvious and easiest way to show Rivers the door would be to give him his pink slip and send his behind packing. Unlike with player contracts, which are almost all guaranteed and thus have cap implications, teams can pretty much hire and fire head coaches at will without it affecting their ability to financially field a competent team. If the Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment group is willing to take on the $8 million per season they owe to Rivers to say goodbye, in addition to the financial commitment they’d need to make to his eventual replacement, they can do it without issue.

If, however, the team is feeling frugal and wants to move on from Rivers without spending a dime, they could ask him nicely to resign. While I guess anything is possible, it’s sort of hard to see Rivers giving up $24 million to go from coaching one of the best teams in the East to being a candidate for a job with the Los Angeles Lakers that he might not even get.

No, the best bet for all parties involved might actually be to pursue a trade between the Sixers and Lakers that exchanges Rivers’ contract for, say, a second-round pick, maybe with their own second-round pick attached to sweeten the deal. While Rivers is no longer considered the sort of tactician worthy of surrendering a first-rounder to procure, which is how the Los Angeles Clippers secured his services back in 2013, I could see all three parties agreeing to a swap that takes the money off of Philly’s books, gives it to the Lakers, and guarantees the one-time Marquette point guard a job coaching Anthony Davis and company for the next three years.

If that deal goes down, I think all parties would be pretty darn happy with the situation.

Is it ideal to have rumors break that Doc Rivers might be on the move at the end of the season with four games left in the regular season? No. Are these rumors going to grow with each blowout loss and/or eye-popping – in a bad way – performance by DeAndre Jordan? You bet. But hey, if the Philadelphia 76ers do move on at the end of the season, they might just have a suitor for their current head coach’s services, which could make moving on a good bit easier. That’s something, right?