NBA Rumors: Will Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari Take Job With Los Angeles Lakers After NCAA Championship Loss?

Due to his consistent success in the college basketball ranks, current University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari finds his name linked to multiple coaching positions in the National Basketball Association on a yearly basis. Advancing to five Final Four’s since becoming a Division I coach in 1988 along with claiming the 2011-2012 NCAA Championship with the Kentucky Wildcats, Calipari’s resume continues to add value and NBA teams remain interested in what it would take to sway him back to a league he spent three seasons in while coaching the New Jersey Nets.

According to CBS Sports, the Los Angeles Lakers may be the team that brings John Calipari back to the professional scene after a recent Twitter post linking the coach and west coast franchise became a popular topic of discussion. Prior to Kentucky’s Monday night loss to the University of Connecticut Huskies in the 2013-2014 National Title game, former UK star and NBA veteran Rex Chapman posted that Calipari would take the Lakers job regardless of Monday’s outcome. Shortly after the post went public, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak denied the rumor, calling it ‘untrue’ while Calipari did his best to dismiss the link following Kentucky’s loss.

“The Lakers have a basketball coach,” Calipari said at Monday night’s postgame press conference when asked about the report linking him to the Lakers. “Kentucky has a basketball coach. I got the best job in the country. I’m not going to even dignify that stuff. But now that the season's over, it is about the players. It's no longer about the program. It's no longer about the team. It's about each individual player on this team now. They sacrificed. They surrendered to each other now, for our team and our program and our school. Season's over. Now it's about them. And we'll sit down with each of them and they will make decisions for themselves.”

Los Angeles is well out of the 2013-2014 NBA Playoff race, currently posting a 25-52 overall record. Even though Calipari did not have monumental success in three seasons with the Nets – recording an overall record of 72-112 from 1996 to 1999 – his continued achievements in Division I basketball certainly makes him an enticing option for a Lakers organization who could very well part ways with head coach Mike D’Antoni at seasons end.