“I was a little nervous. I expressed that to him the other day,” Alex Karaban admitted. Dan Hurley has been more than a coach to the Huskies, leading the team to their second consecutive national championship. However, this wasn’t enough to guarantee whether he would take the Lakers’ offer or not. And when Karaban asked his coach about what are the odds he would take up the Lakers’ offer, Hurley came up with the exact same response as Karaban previously had.

In a recent interview session with John Fanta, Alex Karaban was asked to share his “perspective on Dan Hurley’s process,” which was then uploaded on X. Karaban truthfully shared the fears he had regarding Dan Hurley’s decision. “If he decided to take it, I would have been happy for him, and it was a good talk in general. I’m just super thankful that he was able to reach out to me and talk to me.”

Prior to this conversation, Karaban had voiced out his plan for the future to his coach. “I told him a couple of days before the decision day that there was 65% chance of me coming back, 35% of me staying in the draft, and he didn’t like that answer, so he threw the same thing back at me, you know, 65-35,” shared Karaban. Immediately after giving his odds, Hurley had hung up the call.

After this incident, the Huskies star thought but was unclear “which way he was saying 65 and which way he was saying 35.” But he knew for sure that his coach was not a fan of his answer. Now that Hurley has announced his decision, Karaban must have gotten the answer to all his queries. But Karaban wasn’t the only person Hurley communicated with before moving forward with the Huskies.

Dan Hurley’s off-court consultant

And it was Lakers star ‘King James’. In a recent appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Hurley revealed that he had a “text exchange with James before making up his decision.” He said, “We had some text messages and you know…incredible message from him over the course of the weekend just talking about basketball and some different things,” shared Hurley.

Hurley shared that it was quite important to have a conversation with James before making up his mind. Despite Hurley’s connection to LeBron James, his six-year relationship with the Huskies was more than “a thrill to coach him (LeBron James).”

Finally, on Monday, Dan Hurley announced in an official statement that he would be continuing with the Huskies under a contract valid till 2029. Meanwhile, he also rejected the Lakers’ rumored 6-year, $70 million offer. But now, the question is: has Hurley made the right decision?

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.