Los Angeles Chargers coach Brandon Staley. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Chargers HC gets unlikely advice from top NBA head coaches

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 7/27/23

After blowing a 27-point playoff lead to the Jacksonville Jaguars in mid-January, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley knew he needed guidance from someone who had battled similar adversity.

As unconventional as it sounds, Staley wanted to pick the brains of two of the NBA’s top coaches who have some experience with squandering large leads.

Jaguars 27 point comeback vs the Chargers in 2 minutes pic.twitter.com/J0yZOzqrCo
— Frankie G (@FrankieG1998) January 15, 2023

“I went and spent some time with (Warriors head coach) Steve Kerr in Golden State, and (Spurs head coach) Gregg Popovich," Staley told CBS Sports. "You take a look at all these other sports and I think in some of the examples that I tried to go seek some wisdom from is hey, the response was really, really big. Because they had the right group of guys. And that's where our focus is going to be. This group is made up of the right stuff and we just got to put in the right work in training camp."

Both coaches, of course, have been in Staley’s shoes before. Kerr and the Warriors blew a 3-1 series lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2016 NBA Finals — the very season they set an NBA record with 73 regular-season wins.

Popovich has blown three 3-1 series leads in his career — most recently during the 2020 conference final — and his Spurs blew a 25-point lead to the Houston Rockets in December 2019.

FINAL - Jaguars 31, Chargers 30

Trailing 27-0 with 3:18 remaining in the 2nd quarter, the @Jaguars had just a 1.2% chance of winning. The Jaguars' late-game comeback goes down as the 5th-most improbable of the season.#LACvsJAX | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/K1Thyc6OqI
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 15, 2023

Jacksonville’s comeback was the third-largest in NFL playoff history and the fifth-largest overall, and it left a bad taste in the mouths of the Chargers, who have just two playoff wins in five playoff games since 2010.

The loss seemingly turned up the heat on Staley, who’s 19-15 in two seasons with the Chargers and could very well be coaching for his job in 2023.

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