The Los Angeles Lakers organization has undergone a lot of changes this summer both on the roster and coaching staff.
There are only four players from last year’s roster that will be returning and on the coaching staff, both Jason Kidd and Lionel Hollins won’t be back, among other changes.
The Lakers are bringing in David Fizdale as a replacement assistant while shooting coach Mike Penberthy will also be promoted to the front of the bench.
It appears another Lakers assistant is in for a promotion as well. According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, Miles Simon is in talks to become the head coach of the organization’s G League affiliate South Bay Lakers while also retaining his assistant coaching job with the parent team:
The Lakers and Miles Simon are in talks to make Simon the head coach of the Lakers G League team — the South Bay Lakers, sources tell ESPN. Simon would also retain a role on Frank Vogel’s staff with the Lakers.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) August 12, 2021
The opening with the South Bay Lakers came to be after previous head coach Coby Karl’s contract with the organization was not renewed.
Simon is currently the longest-tenured coach in the Lakers organization as he came on with Luke Walton in 2017 and then was the only one to remain when Frank Vogel took over.
As a player development coach, Simon is known to work well with young players, notably winning a championship as an assistant coach for the Lakers’ Summer League team in 2017 and then taking them back to the championship game as the head coach in 2018.
While Simon isn’t coaching this year’s Summer League team, there’s no doubt he’s paying close attention as some of those players could be on the South Bay roster at the beginning of the season.
Karl thanks Lakers organization
After learning that his contract would not be renewed, Karl took to social media to pen a nice thank you letter to the Lakers organization. Karl was both a player and coach for the Lakers and his contributions over the years are greatly appreciated.
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