Kobe Chatter Ramps Up After Lakers Fire Coach

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Goodbye, Byron Scott. Hello, "Coach Kobe" memes.

Less than a day after the Lakers announced Scott will not return to coach the team next season, fans all over social media responded with calls for the now-retired Kobe Bryant to consider the job.

Sources say the Lakers - who are now looking for their fifth head coach since Phil Jackson left in 2011 - could consider a list of several potential candidates that includes former Laker and current Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton, University of Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, a graduate of Crenshaw High School, and former Houston Rockets and New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy.

But many Laker fans appeared to believe Bryant may be best equipped to turn around the team's fortunes after they finished with the NBA's second-worst record at 17-65 in the superstar guard's farewell season.

But before you get too excited about the possibility of seeing Bryant back on the Lakers bench, it might be useful to consider what he told the Los Angeles Times in December when asked whether coaching might be in his future.

Even if Bryant is a longshot, fans have to be intrigued by the prospect of hiring Walton, who played nine seasons in Los Angeles and coached Golden State to a 39-4 start to the season while Kerr was sidelined by a back injury.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)