The Los Angeles Lakers continue on in their search for the franchise’s next head coach, but the team also understands the importance of building a complete coaching staff. Getting the right assistant coaches under the head coach is absolutely imperative to the team’s success and they often thrive where the head coach is weaker.
Some of the people being interviewed for the head coach position have also been mentioned as possible staff hires if they don’t land the job, but others are sure to be brought on as well. One possibility is an assistant who was part of the team’s championship coaching staff in 2020.
According to Dan Woike of the L.A. Times, Greg St. Jean, who was an assistant for the Lakers under Frank Vogel, is someone who has been brought up regularly when discussing filling out the coaching staff:
Former Lakers assistant coach Greg St. Jean, who worked in Dallas for Jason Kidd two seasons ago and with Frank Vogel in Phoenix last season, is another name commonly mentioned in staffing discussions.
St. Jean served under Vogel with the Lakers for two seasons before leaving to join Jason Kidd’s staff when he was hired as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. St. Jean would then return to the side of Vogel when he was hired by the Phoenix Suns this past season, but with Vogel being fired after just one year, St. Jean and the rest of that staff is now available.
He also comes from a basketball family, with his father, Garry St. Jean, serving as the head coach of the Sacramento Kings back in the early 1990s.
St. Jean joins the list of potential assistant coaches that have been rumored even as the team has yet to hire a head coach. A couple of former players from that 2020 championship team in Jared Dudley, currently a Mavericks assistant, and Rajon Rondo have been mentioned as has former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks.
Lakers ‘nowhere close’ to hiring next head coach
Finalizing that coaching staff is unlikely to happen anytime soon however as the first step is finding that next head coach which is still an ongoing process.
The latest report is that the Lakers are just beginning the more in-depth interview process with a number of candidates, starting with New Orleans Pelicans top assistant James Borrego. But many other are expected to be interviewed still and the franchise is apparently ‘nowhere close’ to making their decision.
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