On Monday the Los Angeles Lakers announced that they have promoted Jordan Wilkes to Director of Player Development and Josh Wright to Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, and have hired Kristen Andrews as Manager of Nutrition and Wellness, and Adi Vase as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach.
Wilkes has been with the team since the beginning of the 2013-14 season serving as a basketball operations assistant which involved a lot of player talent evaluation.
According to the Lakers press release, under his new title of Director of Player Development Wilkes will be assisting General Manager Rob Pelinka in the day-to-day operations of the team, focusing on the personal growth of the players on the roster, while providing resources and assisting in the development of life skills off the court and outside of basketball.
Andrews spent the last year as the Sports Performance Dietitian for the Los Angeles Galaxy. She will take on essentially the same role with the Lakers, managing the team’s nutrition and wellness program. She will arrange all team meals throughout the season, both at home and on the road.
The Lakers hired Gunnar Peterson as their strength and conditioning coach. Vase and Wright will work directly under him for the Lakers. Before joining the Lakers staff, Vase worked as the Athletic Development Quality Assurance Assistant for the San Antonio Spurs. Wright began working for the Lakers last season as a coaching assistant so he is already familiar with the players and staff within the organization.
Now that the Lakers staff is completely filled out the focus can shift towards getting the players ready for the upcoming season. The Lakers report for training camp at their brand new UCLA Health Training Center in just one week.