After initially reporting in early June that Rasheed Wallace was on track to join the Lakers‘ coaching staff as one of new head coach Darvin Ham‘s assistants, Shams Charania of The Athletic says that’s no longer happening. Wallace won’t be part of Ham’s staff after all, according to Charania.
Emiliano Carchia of Sportando first reported on Friday (via Twitter) that Wallace was “very unlikely” to become a Lakers assistant.
Wallace, who played for six NBA teams from 1995-2013, made four All-Star teams and won a championship during that time, compiling more than 16,000 career points and over 7,400 career rebounds. He has done a little coaching since retiring, including with the Pistons in 2013/14 and as an assistant with the University of Memphis in ’21/22.
Ham and Wallace were teammates in Detroit for parts of two seasons in 2004 and 2005, winning a title together in ’04.
Ham confirmed in June that Wallace was a candidate for an assistant coaching role with the Lakers — it’s unclear why it didn’t work out. Perhaps either Wallace or the Lakers decided to go in another direction before talks got serious, or maybe the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement on Wallace’s role and/or financial compensation.
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