After serving for years as a Rockets assistant coach, John Lucas is moving to the front office as an assistant to general manager Rafael Stone, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Lucas, 69, was the lead assistant the previous three seasons former Rockets head coach Stephen Silas. He’s not on the newly released list of assistants for new head coach Ime Udoka.
That doesn’t mean the Rockets legend is done with the franchise with which he has been an icon as both a player and coach for nearly 50 years. Lucas reportedly led Houston’s pre-draft workouts leading to the 2023 NBA draft, which was during the period Udoka was hiring his staff. Now he’ll move into a front-office role with Stone.
After his playing days, Lucas was a head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers. He returned to the Rockets as Mike D’Antoni’s player development coach in 2016-17 and has remained with the team.
Rockets assistant coach John Lucas to move to front office https://t.co/fBXUwbYmqv via @houstonchron
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) July 3, 2023
