The Athletic's Shams Charania may have missed the mark again on market changing news.
For a week or so, him and his colleagues at the Athletic have been adamant that ESPN analyst and podcaster JJ Redick — who also co-hosts a popular podcast with Lakers star LeBron James — was the frontrunner to become the Lakers' new coach.
Several stories on their website examine that fact, all but ordaining Redick as the likely successor to Lakers kingdom. Charania is employed by FanDuel.
But, that all changed on Thursday.
News broke from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that the Lakers were preparing a gargantuan offer to UConn's Dan Hurley, who is coming off of back-to-back championships at the collegiate level.
To that end, Hurley all but confirmed the offer by telling his players that he was in talks with the Lakers, Fox Sports reported.
And now, the market for Lakers next coach is down at every sportsbook.
That's despite the fact that Hurley wasn't even on any of those lists in the first place. While Redick had been as long as a -210 favorite to nab the position, college basketball's most successful coach right now was nowhere to be found on that list.
Meaning, DraftKings and FanDuel (which had the market open in Canada but not the U.S) will profit 100% on bettors. If Hurley is hired, no bettor will win, because Hurley was never on the board.
All profits would go to the two largest sportsbooks in the country — one of whom employ Charania. ESPNBet — the namesake of Wojnarowski's employer — did not host this marketplace.
Besides Redick, the market had isolated Pelicans assistant James Borrego (+400) and Celtics assistant Sam Cassell (+800) as among the other favorites. Former Lakers like Rajon Rondo (+2000) and Pau Gasol (+20000) were on the list, for what it's worth.
But no Hurley.
