Darvin Ham, the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, is starting to make decisions as far as who will be on his staff come the new season this fall.
Yesterday, it was reported that Ham had reached out to Rasheed Wallace, who had been his teammate on the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons, to join his staff.
On Tuesday, word came out that Ham had made the decision to get rid of three incumbent assistants who had been assistant coaches under previous head coach Frank Vogel.
Via Lakers Daily:
“According to a report, assistant coaches David Fizdale, Mike Penberthy and John Lucas III will not be retained by the team.”
Ham has been discussing assistant coaching roles with several possible candidates around the league, sources tell ESPN. That’s a process that’s expected to be ongoing for weeks. https://t.co/UPhZZI4zbJ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 7, 2022
Fizdale had been a big part of Vogel’s staff. He had previously been an assistant coach for the Miami Heat during LeBron James’ time with them, then moved on to be the head coach for the Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knicks.
Penberthy, a former player who won two rings with the Lakers in 2001 and 2002, had been a shooting coach for them until this season when he was moved to a front-of-the-bench role.
Lucas was hired by the last prior to this season. He had played in the NBA from 2006 to 2017.