The Los Angeles Lakers announced that they have hired Dr. Leroy Sims, MD, MSc, CAQSM, FACEP, as their director of player performance and health. He is expected to oversee player medical care and the optimization of health and performance.
Dr. Sims most recently worked for the NBA, where he served as the senior vice president, head of medical operations. Under his role there, he helped develop and implement innovative health and safety protocols, investigated medical technologies to optimize basketball experiences and conducted medical risk assessments.
Additionally, Dr. Sims is board-certified in emergency medicine and primary care sports medicine, serving as a key member on the team that executed medical operations in the 2020 Bubble in Orlando.
In his other endeavors, Dr. Sims has helped provided medical support for Team USA Basketball and Track & Field during the 2026 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics.
Prior to that, he was the medical director and team physician for the Golden State Warriors from 2011-14.
Dr. Sims himself took to social media to express his excitement to join the Lakers organization:
— SirLeeMD (@sirleemd) August 21, 2024
Coming off a season in which they were decimated by injuries, the Lakers clearly felt the need to make some changes, hoping Dr. Sims will help overhaul that department.
Considering the Lakers did not make any roster moves this offseason, they are relying on improvement from within with health playing a big part in that. Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent and Rui Hachimura all missed significant time last season but should be key contributors for L.A. in 2024-25 if they can stay on the court.
Then there, of course, is LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who are coming off extremely fortunate seasons when it comes to health but have dealt with their own issues in the past. With both coming off Olympic runs with Team USA, and James particularly entering his 22nd NBA season, it’s good to see the Lakers are putting a larger emphasis on keeping them healthy.
Dr. Sims presumably worked with both James and Davis during the 2024 Olympics so may already have a familiarity with the Lakers’ two stars.
Anthony Davis believes accountability is first step in Lakers winning championship
The hiring of Dr. Leroy Sims shows that the Lakers understand the importance of staying healthy in order to make the playoffs and contend for a championship.
One other important aspect of that though will be accountability, which Anthony Davis recently stressed will be key.
“The goal at the end of the day is still to win championships,” Davis said. “You can’t skip steps. The first step is we’re going to hold guys accountable. We’re going to show up to work and if something goes wrong, we’re gonna hold guys accountable, and then from there, we’ll figure it out.”
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