Juwan Howard Emerges from Out of Nowhere As Betting Favorite for Lakers Head Coach Job

The Lakers are almost assuredly going to move on from Luke Walton and hire a new head coach for next season. Various names have been circling all season like Jason Kidd, Tyronn Lue, and Mark Jackson as the next potential Lakers head coach.

From seemingly out of nowhere today, I got an email from BetOnline.ag saying that Juwan Howard was the betting favorite for the job. Here’s their full list:

Juwan Howard 4/1
Tyronn Lue 7/1
Luke Walton 7/1
Tom Thibodeau 15/2
Jason Kidd 9/1
Jerry Stackhouse 10/1
Derek Fisher 12/1
David Fizdale 12/1
Mark Jackson 12/1
Brian Shaw 12/1
Jeff Van Gundy 12/1
Sam Cassell 20/1
Adrian Griffin 20/1
Miles Simon 20/1
Becky Hammon 25/1
Doc Rivers 25/1
Stan Van Gundy 33/1
Rick Carlisle 50/1
Rick Pitino 50/1
Erik Spoelstra 50/1
Chris Beard 60/1
John Calipari 60/1
Matt Painter 60/1
Bill Self 66/1
Jay Wright 66/1
Maurice Cheeks 75/1
Tom Izzo 100/1
Coach K 100/1
Sean Miller 100/1
Byron Scott 150/1
Mike Brown 150/1
Phil Jackson 250/1
Charles Barkley 500/1
LeBron James 500/1
Magic Johnson 500/1
LaVar Ball 1000/1

Some of these names — Doc Rivers (just signed an extension with the Clippers), Charles Barkley, and LaVar Ball — are never ever ever going to happen. I’m still curious where Juwan Howard came from. He does have history with LeBron both as a teammate and later assistant coach with the Heat (Update: and as a tweeter points out, Howard and Pelinka were also teammates at Michigan), but I haven’t seen anyone report or even speculate that he’s a candidate.

From my vantage, Brian Shaw and Mark Jackson are decent value plays at 12-1 apiece, and Coach K could be worth like a $20 flyer at 100-1. Yeah, you’re probably losing that bet, but you know that going in. Turning a Jackson into two grand would be incredible.

Will we start hearing Howard’s name in the proverbial conversation? Or did someone say this somewhere and I missed it? Or is this a publicity play from the betting web site knowing that an odd name as favorite is the best way to make headlines? If it’s the latter, then they’ve succeeded in getting me to talk about it.