John Calipari To The Lakers?

Apr 6, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari speaks at a press conference during practice before the championship game of the Final Four in the 2014 NCAA Mens Division I Championship tournament at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Former Kentucky Wildcats and NBA player turned TV analyst Rex Chapman created a social media tsunami Monday night before the NCAA National Championship game.

Chapman tweeted before the game that Kentucky head coach John Calipari would be the next head coach of the Los Angles Lakers. Going as far to say it was a “done deal” with the hashtag #NoBS following that.

How much insight does Chapman have into the situation? No much it appears. Chapman played for the Wildcats from 1986-1988 before departing for the NBA. While he remains an intricate part of the Kentucky alumni he has no ties to the coaching staff. He also has no ties to the Los Angeles Lakers, at least none that are immediately seeable. The chances of Chapman having any hard evidence is slim.

Granted if Calipari did leave he would take over a losing Laker team, the first time in over a decade the Lakers have had a losing season. Calipari would also be going back to the NBA for the first time since 1999 as a head coach when he served as the New Jersey Nets head coach from 1996-1999. He was also an assistant in Philadelphia from 1999-2000. Calipari departed UMass after improper benefits to Marcus Camby were discovered.

Calipari is 72-112 in his NBA head coaching career. Compare that to Mike D’Antoni who is currently 65-84 with the Lakers in nearly two seasons. Now it can be said that the NBA has certainly changed since Calipari was there, but would his style of play be that much different that D’Antoni? It is hard to tell.

The biggest question is can Calipari handle NBA players. He has never had to fully develop players, he runs a farm at Kentucky, one and done. How will he deal with a team that is already established, is he a good motivator? All things that need to be answered. And is there an NCAA violation on the horizon for this rumor to come out?

The Lakers have already gone on the defensive. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak says “rumor is untrue” when asked about the Chapman tweet. What we do know is Kobe Bryant will have the final say over who the next coach is.

Stay tuned, there will be a lot more on this story. Surely ESPN will run 10 hours on it tomorrow.