<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>BREAKING: Mike D'Antoni has resigned as Head Coach of the Lakers. <a href="http://t.co/YiiFWA6jl7">http://t.co/YiiFWA6jl7</a> . <a href="http://t.co/dC0OuHcO5K">pic.twitter.com/dC0OuHcO5K</a></p>— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lakers/statuses/461677283212677120">May 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Mike D'Antoni went 67-87 in 2 years as Lakers head coach. He had one year remaining on contract at $4 million. MORE: <a href="http://t.co/gKeJziP1Ln">http://t.co/gKeJziP1Ln</a></p>— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/statuses/461679126660018176">May 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Guess D'Antoni didn't want to be a lame duck (roast duck) next year and decided to quit when they wouldn't guarantee him for 2015-16. It's obvious the Lakers don't care about results next season and would dump him in 2015 to hire someone else long term. So he cuts off his own nose ($4 million) to spite them. Must be nice to be filthy rich.
They don't pay Mike Brown since he signed with the Cavs, his money is off the books and D'Antoni resigned, so his money is left on the table.
The last few days have been weird when it comes to D'Antoni and the Lakers. Namely, I thought it was funny that, over the weekend, ESPN was running an item on their bottom line that said something along the lines of: "The Lakers have chosen to retain head coach Mike D'Antoni for the 2014/2015 season. The Lakers have not informed D'Antoni of their choice" as if it was still some kind of secret. I'm pretty sure that if he didn't know before, he knew almost instantaneously after ESPN started running it on their ticker.