Newly appointed Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is reportedly restructuring his team’s coaching staff, deciding to let go of assistant coaches David Fizdale, Mike Penberthy, and John Lucas III on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ham is expected to retain Phil Handy and Quinton Crawford, both of whom also served under former Lakers coach Frank Vogel.
Ham stated during his introductory press conference that he is on the lookout for assistant coaches who “roll up their sleeves” and are able to show versatility by performing multiple roles within the team.
“Where I come from the last nine years, we did everything. We did player development. We did scouting. I had to step in as the head coach on a few occasions. But it was a team. It wasn’t coordinators on either side of the ball,” Ham explained, going on to state that these are the types of coaches he will look to employ in his new role.
Handy joined the Lakers in the 2011-12 season as a player development coach. He later went on to become a championship winner with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors before making his way back to the Lakers as an assistant coach. Crawford joined the Lakers in 2019 after working as a video coordinator for the Orlando Magic.
