But when you're trying to lure the top college basketball coach away from a perfect situation, you need to go the extra mile and pay up. He wasn't dying to get into the NBA but when the Lakers come calling, you listen. They didn't want to pay him to walk away from a situation where he essentially has a job for life to come to a pressure cooker where he'll be getting questioned as soon as they go on a three game losing streak.I wouldn’t call being the 6th highest paid coach out of 30 other coaches a lowball when you are coming in with zero NBA history. Everyone above him outside of Monty has won a championship as a NBA coach. Some have won multiple. There is only one team from that top 5 already regretting the offer. That is way too big of a risk honestly unless you know what the coach is capable of in the league.