Ever since Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka took over the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers as president of basketball operations and general manager respectively, there have been quite a few members of the staff who have left the organization.
One of those who left was strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco, but the Lakers have already found his replacement. The team officially announced Gunnar Peterson as the new Director of Strength and Endurance Training. Pelinka spoke very highly of Peterson and his work:
“From his time in college at Duke University until now, Gunnar has pursued excellence in training and fitness,” said General Manager Rob Pelinka. “Gunnar is a true pioneer and visionary at his craft, and will bring a new mentality to our weight room which we are all very excited about. Since Magic and I have worked with Gunnar in the past, we have a strong relationship with him, which makes working together now feel seamless.”
Peterson is a former private trainer who has worked with Magic and Pelinka in the past. According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, he has quite the client list:
New Lakers dir. of strength and endurance training: https://t.co/4TgQSCkFtY – Gunnar Peterson – clients: J.Lo, Sly, Sampras, Kendall
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) May 24, 2017
Peterson will obviously play a significant role for the Lakers moving forward as one of the major things that Magic and Pelinka outlined to all of the Lakers players is that they get in the best shape possible coming into training camp.
The young Lakers have already been hard at work this summer as they have all been in the gym working to improve their games. Now with Peterson on board, they will also get to work on improving their bodies as well.