The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Saturday because Vogel’s three-year contract has not been finalized. Vogel flew to Los Angeles on Thursday and met with a group that included owner Jeanie Buss, general manager Rob Pelinka and adviser Kurt Rambis.

The 45-year old Vogel worked for the organization before as an advance scout during the 2005-06 season. He did not coach last season following two years with the Orlando Magic. Vogel went to Orlando following five-plus seasons leading the Indiana Pacers, including trips to the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and `14. He has a career record of 304-291.

Kidd interviewed with the Lakers last month. The former star player who was a head coach in Brooklyn and Milwaukee was fired by the Bucks during the 2017-18 season. He has a 183-190 record.

The Lakers have missed the playoffs six straight seasons. The drought was expected to end this season but injuries to LeBron James, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, as well as internal discord, resulted in a 37-45 record.

It’s an interesting pairing in many ways, including how Vogel was fired by Indiana in 2016 and Orlando in 2018 – and how he simply could never get past James in the playoffs.

The Pacers thought they had a title-contender in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and James and the Miami Heat eliminated them in all three of those postseasons. Vogel won 58 percent of his games in parts of six seasons with Indiana, but the lasting image of his tenure there is the fact that those clubs were always ousted by Miami.

Now, Vogel and James will be on the same side, both looking for a resurgence. This season was James’ first without a playoff appearance since 2005 and ended his streak of eight consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. Vogel is coming off a 54-110 tenure in two seasons with Orlando, while the Magic were rebuilding.

Vogel is known mainly as a defensive coach. Indiana led the league in defensive efficiency twice and was in the top 10 during his five-plus seasons. The Lakers were tied for 13th in defensive efficiency last season. An official announcement announcing his hiring might not come until Monday, which would mark the start of a busy week for the Lakers. They will take part in the draft lottery on Tuesday and will also be at the draft combine.

Vogel’s hiring is the first step in what will be – and has already been – an eventful and critical offseason for the Lakers, who will be on their sixth coach since Phil Jackson stepped down after the 2010-11 season.

The firing of Luke Walton as coach April 12 was not unexpected, and came three days after Magic Johnson stunned the team and just about everybody else by giving up his role running the club. Johnson, the former Lakers star, dropped that news in an impromptu news conference held roughly 90 minutes before the regular-season finale.

The Lakers pursued several other candidates, and appeared to be closing in on a deal with Tyronn Lue that would have looked to make sense in many ways. Lue played for the Lakers, was part of two teams that won championships there, and coached James to the 2016 NBA title in Cleveland. But that deal never got to the finish line, and the Lakers’ search quickly moved toward Vogel.

The Lakers also considered Monty Williams, who was hired by the Phoenix Suns, and Juwan Howard and J.B. Bickerstaff

The Lakers expect to have more than $40 million in salary cap space this summer and will likely resume their pursuit of Anthony Davis – who would have to be traded by New Orleans – either around the draft or the July 1 start of free agency. When that player-shopping window begins, the Lakers will likely try to land Kawhi Leonard and other big names who might be willing to play with James.

And there is a slew of roster work to do. The Lakers had several rotation players on either one-year or expiring deals this season, a list that includes Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler.

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Left short-handed by a rash of frontcourt injuries, the Knicks are suddenly counting on Martin more than they ever imagined. Best of all, he’s coming up big.

Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, Martin had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and the Knicks clinched a playoff berth with a 99-94 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

“He means a lot to this team right now,” Anthony said of Martin, his one-time Denver teammate. “We need him coming down the stretch.”

Making his fifth straight start, Martin connected on his first nine field goal attempts, not missing until 1:40 remained in the fourth quarter.

“He stepped up big time,” New York coach Mike Woodson said. “He scored for us, he rebounded, had a few blocks. He did a little bit of everything.”

Veteran guard Jason Kidd, who once played with Martin in New Jersey, said the 35-year-old has been an invaluable addition following injuries to big men Amar’e Stoudemire (right knee), Tyson Chandler (neck), Kurt Thomas (right foot) and Rasheed Wallace (left foot).

“He’s a true professional,” Kidd said. “If we didn’t have him we would be in trouble right now. He’s playing big on both ends.”

Out of basketball before the Knicks came calling, Martin said he considers himself “blessed” to be back on the court and playing for a contender.

“I just tried to stay ready,” he said. “An opportunity came for me to come out and play. It’s unfortunate that it’s because of injury, but I’ll take it.”

J.R. Smith scored 14 points as the Knicks earned their 41st win. That guaranteed they’ll reach the playoffs for the third straight season, something they hadn’t done since a 14-year streak of postseason appearances from 1988 to 2001.

With 15 games left and playoff seeding still undecided, Woodson doesn’t want his team easing up.

“We can’t have any slippage, no matter who we play, because Brooklyn is not going anywhere and Boston is not going anywhere,” Woodson said.

The league’s second-leading scorer, Anthony has 57 total points in his past two games after missing six of the previous eight with a sore right knee. His 43 minutes were about 10 more than Woodson had hoped he’d play, but Anthony wasn’t complaining.

“I’ll take on that challenge, I love that challenge, I want that challenge,” he said. “I wanted to see what I could do, especially being out and not playing the way I know how to play.”

The defeat was a double blow for Toronto, which lost for the 11th time in 15 games and saw forward Rudy Gay leave in the second with a sore back. Gay did not return, and his status for Saturday night’s rematch in New York was not known.

Alan Anderson scored a career-high 35 points, DeMar DeRozan had 18 and Jonas Valanciunas 10 as the Raptors lost their third straight. Kyle Lowry led Toronto with 10 assists.

Down by 14 points midway through the third, the Raptors rallied to make a game of it in the fourth. A three-point play by DeRozan cut it to 84-82 with 6:17 left, but Anthony answered with a three-point play of his own, keying a 10-2 run that put the Knicks up 94-84 with 4:00 remaining.

A putback dunk by Terrence Ross cut it to 97-92 with 39 seconds left and, after Smith missed a pair of free throws, Anderson made two from the line, making it 97-94.

Anthony was fouled and made the first but missed the second, giving the Knicks a four-point edge. Jason Kidd grabbed the rebound when Ross’s 3-point heave came up short, and capped it by making one of two from the line.

Chandler (neck) did not travel with the team, remaining in New York for treatment. Woodson said he doesn’t know when Chandler, who last played March 13, will be cleared to return. The Knicks had earlier said they expected Chandler to miss about a week.

Raymond Felton’s banked 3 gave the Knicks a 25-15 lead with two minutes left in the first but Anderson scored five straight points as the Raptors cut it to 25-22 after one.

Gay headed to the locker room with a sore back at 7:04 of the second and the Knicks pulled away. Anthony and Kidd each scored six as New York outscored Toronto 25-15 to open a 50-37 lead at the half. The Raptors made five of 20 field goal attempts in the quarter.

“We just had a lot of open misses,” Anderson said. “We weren’t swinging the ball from side to side like we did in the previous two games against them.”

Anderson matched a Raptors record with 20 points in the third and Toronto made five of nine from 3-point range, but a turnaround, buzzer-beating 3 by Anthony gave the Knicks a 77-71 lead heading into the fourth.

Game notes

Stoudemire, Thomas and Wallace also skipped the trip to Toronto. … Iman Shumpert started for the New York after sitting out the second half of Wednesday’s win over Orlando with a sore left knee. … Mike James was the last Toronto player to score 20 in a quarter, doing it in the fourth against Detroit on Apr. 14, 2006. … Woodson expressed his sadness at the death of former Knicks captain Ray Williams, who died Friday at the age of 58. “It’s a major loss,” Woodson said. “He’s a part of our Knicks family.” … Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. attended the game.

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