Former Kentucky graduate assistant Austin Pope has been hired by the Los Angeles Lakers, he told Lakers Nation. The Burbank, Calif. native will fill the role of head video coordinator for the South Bay Lakers in the G League.
“It means everything,” Pope said of this opportunity. “I was born a Laker. People say that all the time with their fandom and things, but it’s just unreal. I feel super grateful, man. My mom, when I was a baby in her stomach, I used to go to games at The Forum and as a young kid I would go to church at The Forum and go to games, followed Magic, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper. So for me, it’s a full-circle moment to work in the organization.
“I played Burbank YMCA (when I was young) and had all these Junior Lakers jerseys and pictures, so just full circle working in the place that you kind of were born into and was in your backyard. And Kobe being my G.O.A.T. and my favorite (player), come on, man. I’m overjoyed.”
Pope graduated from Burbank High School in 2013, where he guided the school to its first CIF semifinals as a sophomore. He began his playing career at Cerritos College and then attended North Idaho College, being named NJCAA All-Region 18 First Team and also to the Region 18 All-Tournament Team.
The 6’6″ guard then wrapped up his college career at Chaminade University, where he was named Pacific West Conference Newcomer of the Year and All-PacWest Third Team in 2016-17 as a junior, and then All-PacWest First Team in 2017-18 as a senior.
Pope was able to continue playing professionally, suiting up for B.C Silute LKL Lithuania in 2018, Vaerlose BBK Denmark from 2019-21 and then OKK Novi Pazar Serbia in 2022. He attended the Stockton Kings G League minicamp in 2022 before beginning his coaching journey with BTI, a well-known AAU club in Pasadena.
Pope then coached at Viewpoint High School before landing the head coaching job at Burroughs High School in his hometown of Burbank. He joined Mark Pope at Kentucky as a graduate assistant in 2024-25 and the Wild Cats went 24-12 and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament in his lone season with the program.
Now, Pope will be joining the Lakers organization in what he hopes to be the next stepping stone in his coaching career.
“The role itself is something I’m very excited about because I have a lot of on-court playing experience and so many things I know from playing the game,” Pope told Lakers Nation. “And then going to Kentucky and working with a lot of the best coaches in the country and their film work and learning film, I really got a grasp for it there. And then now to kind of take it up another notch being here with South Bay and the Lakers under their system and all the knowledge that I’ll gain, I’m very excited about the video coordinator position because I just feel like it’s something that can help me in my career and help me continue to grow.
“As far as my end goal, I think it just sets myself up to be the best head coach I can possibly be in the near future. I know I have a long way to go, but just being able to learn under great coaches and be a sponge and a servant to the program and do everything that I’m asked is all I can ask for.”
A lot of NBA head coaches got their careers started as video coordinators, including Erik Spoelstra, Mike Budenholzer and Quin Snyder.
The South Bay Lakers should have an interesting roster next season with Bronny James, Trey Jemison, Eric Dixon and others all potentially seeing time in the G League. Pope will be there every step of the way to help the young players in the organization develop their games.
“I’ve been a huge fan of the G League,” he said. “As a player, that was a place that I really wanted to hone my game and my skillset because I felt like it was a great umbrella for the NBA. So me being a part of that is a similar system to when I played junior college… It’s about helping guys or being helped to go to that next level, which is a very meaningful thing to me. I think it would be great to help the next guys in any way I can to achieve their goals. I think that have a good feeder system is key, so yeah, I’m very excited to do any and everything from video to on-court work to help those guys achieve their goals.”
Lakers emphasizing player development under JJ Redick
When the Lakers hired JJ Redick to be their head coach last summer, he made it clear that player development would be a focus of the organization and that he wants the G League team to be in lockstep with the parent club, a gap that Austin Pope and the rest of the South Bay staff will help bridge.
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