‘One of the Dumbest Takes I’ve Heard’: UConn Basketball Coach Denies Using Lakers Offer As Leverage for Bigger Contract at School

University of Connecticut men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley shot down the idea that he only entertained the Los Angeles Lakers in order to score a bigger payday with the Huskies.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Hurley turned down a six-year, $70 million offer from Lakers. Instead, Hurley will remain in Storrs, Connecticut, to try leading the Huskies to a third straight national championship.

When the news broke that Hurley rejected the Lakers’ offer, it became widely speculated online that he simply used that offer to entice the university to offer him more money.

On Thursday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show, Hurley explained how that was far from the truth.

“That, to me, is one of the dumbest takes I’ve heard,” Hurley said.

“One of the worst takes I’ve heard is this was a leverage play by me to improve my situation at UConn. I don’t need leverage here. We’ve won back-to-back national championships at this place. This was never a leverage situation for me. I’ve had a contract in place here for a couple of weeks; and the financial part, in terms of salary, has been done for a while. There’s some other parts — like NIL and staff salaries and some different things — that I want adjusted, that I’m not comfortable with; but the sense or the idea that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is just lazy.”

Watch above via The Dan Le Batard Show.