Sources: The Lakers are beginning to contact head coach candidates

CHICAGO – The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to begin contacting coaching candidates in the coming days, with an initial focus on current assistants and former head coaches with whom they are less familiar, sources told ESPN on Monday.

Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' vice president of basketball operations and general manager, has been gathering information on a number of head coach candidates, including ESPN analyst JJ Redick, sources said. The first wave of interview permission requests is for people the organization hasn't interacted with in previous searches or who simply know less than other candidates.

In Pelinka's conversations with officials around the league, the term “grinder” comes up again and again in the general manager's description of an important trait in the next coach, sources said.

According to sources, the initial interview list will include assistant candidates such as Chris Quinn from Miami and James Borrego from New Orleans.

The search is expected to progress gradually with that first wave, then a period of discussions with coaches with whom the Lakers have a longer history, followed by a trimming of the list to a final round of candidates, sources said.

The Lakers released Darvin Ham earlier this month after two seasons. Ham had an overall record of 90-74, reaching the Western Conference Finals in his debut season, followed by a five-game series loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of that year's playoffs.