Dan Hurley reportedly has ‘heavily reduced’ buyout to leave UConn for NBA

Lucky for the Lakers, if Dan Hurley leaves UConn for the NBA, his buyout is much smaller, potentially making the decision easier.

On Thursday, the Lakers' head coaching search took the sharpest of left turns when Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that the franchise was targeting UConn's Dan Hurley.

Since then, we've received a slew of news on Hurley and the Lakers' interest in partnering with him.

Hurley has reportedly been the Lakers' No. 1 candidate since the start of this search. The Lakers believe he can develop the young players and are expected to meet with him on Friday in Los Angeles.

The Lakers may be very interested in the UConn coach, but prying him away from the Huskies is still challenging.

Not only is there the emotional aspect of leaving a great program, but he's also a back-to-back champion aiming for a three-peat. It would be tough to leave a dynasty to work elsewhere, even if it's the Lakers.

There's also his contract situation to consider.

On that front, Shams Charania and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic reported that the buyout situation isn't as bad for the Lakers as you may have thought it would be.

“Hurley signed a six-year, $32.1 million contract with UConn in 2023, after the first of the back-to-back titles. The contract includes a separate, heavily reduced buyout if Hurley leaves for an NBA head-coaching position — $1.875 million, versus a $7.5 million buyout if he leaves for a college head-coaching job.”

The heavily reduced buyout makes leaving for the Lakers or any other NBA team much easier.

It may not be the end all be all, but given the relatively low number, it's one less obstacle the Lakers or Hurley will have to worry about.

Now that we know the buyout situation is unlikely to be an issue, we'll have to see if vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss can wow Hurley enough on Friday to convince him to become the franchise's 27th head coach.

If not, perhaps they'll go back to JJ Redick, who was thought to be the frontrunner before this Hurley hype came around. For now, all the focus is on getting the UConn coach to take his talents to the West.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.