Report: Lakers deliberating about keeping Byron Scott

The Minnesota Timberwolves are primed to make the first splash of the NBA's coaching hot-stove season, reportedly finalizing a five-year deal with Tom Thibodeau, perhaps the biggest free-agent coach on the market.

Several other teams with vacancies or potential vacancies have been openly engaging with candidates. There's been no word as yet on the Los Angeles Lakers' plans, but they may be jumping in on the action soon.

The Lakers are currently deliberating about whether to keep incumbent coach Byron Scott, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

Scott's tenure has produced the two worst seasons in Lakers history, but it's difficult to know how much blame to lay at Scott's feet, given the sorry state of the team's roster and the fact that Kobe Bryant's retirement circus effectively held this season hostage.

Still, Scott has shown a lack of trust in the Lakers' young players, while often giving too much rope to their veterans - a seemingly counter-intuitive tack for a rebuilding team to take. He also presided over the league's worst defense and second-worst offense.

That futility might end up benefiting the Lakers in the long run; they're currently projected to pick second in the upcoming draft, and if their pick falls outside the top three, it will convey to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But with the clock ticking on co-owner and vice president Jim Buss' pledge to step down if the team doesn't start contending, the front office may decide Scott isn't the man to lead them into the future.

One theory that was reportedly floating around the league earlier this season held that the Lakers were considering hanging onto Scott through the 2016-17 campaign, at which point they could lure Phil Jackson back from the New York Knicks and have Jackson pick his own coach.

It sounds a bit fanciful, but it's tough to put anything past the Lakers at this point.