The Los Angeles Lakers have officially hired former head physical therapist Judy Seto as director of sports performance, the team announced.
Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN first reported Seto’s return on May 13.
In Seto’s second stint with the Lakers, she will report to general manager Rob Pelinka and ‘will oversee the medical care and optimize the health and performance of the players,’ according to the team’s press release.
After serving as the team’s head physical therapist from the 2011-16 NBA seasons, Seto worked with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles-based HealthSouth along with the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic.
And most recently, Seto served as the director of sports performance for Select Physical Therapy where she ‘developed, designed and implemented sports science concepts and technology to maximize athletic performance, minimize injury risk and facilitate timely return to competition.’
Heading into the 2019-20 season, the Lakers have addressed a major concern with Seto’s return. In Year 1 with LeBron James who missed 27 games, they missed 212 total games due to injury, which was the ninth most in the league.
When the Lakers missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season due to these injuries, their first offseason move was firing head athletic trainer Marco Nunez, who succeeded Gary Vitti after the 2015-16 season.