Lakers Announce Darvin Ham’s Coaching Staff For 2022-23 Season

The Los Angeles Lakers have revealed Darvin Ham’s coaching staff for the 2022-23 season, naming Chris Jent, Jordan Ott, J.D. DuBois, Schuyler Rimmer and Zach Peterson as the team’s new assistants. The four coaches join Phil Handy, Dru Anthrop, and Jon Pastorek on Ham’s staff.

Jent most recently served as an Atlanta Hawks assistant coach from 2017-2022. In his NBA coaching career, the 1994 NBA champion with the Houston Rockets has also worked for the Philadelphia 76ers, the Orlando Magic, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Sacramento Kings — in addition to two stints as an assistant at Ohio State and a head-coaching run with the NBA G League’s Bakersfield Jam.

Jent reunites with Ham four years after the latter followed Mike Budenholzer in leaving the Hawks for the Milwaukee Bucks, where he worked until taking over in L.A.

Ott is another member of the Lakers coaching staff who has previously worked with Ham in Atlanta, serving as the Hawks’ video coordinator between 2013-2016. He joins the Purple and Gold after a six-year run as an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets. Ott brings in international experience having worked as an assistant coach with the Dominican Republic national team in the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City.

DuBois joins the Lakers after spending four years as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons — where he moved after serving as a player development coach with the Toronto Raptors in 2017-18.

Rimmer is set to work with Ham on a third NBA team, taking on his first coaching job after serving as an assistant video coordinator in Atlanta and, most recently, in Milwaukee. While with the Bucks, the former Florida and Stanford player used his college basketball experience to partner Giannis Antetokounmpo in on-court drills.

Like Rimmer, Peterson will make his debut as an assistant in 2022-23 after serving as a player development coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2019-20. Interestingly, he previously served as Rimmer’s superior, working as a head video coordinator in both Milwaukee and Atlanta — making him another Ham’s staffer who has previous working experience with the new Lakers head coach.

Ham doesn’t commit to Russell Westbrook as starter

Among the biggest challenges of Ham’s new staff will be finding a fitting role for Russell Westbrook, who is likely to start the 2022-23 season in L.A. despite being mentioned in trade rumors for the entire summer.

The role could see Westbrook come off the bench, which the Lakers reportedly consider a possibility for the upcoming campaign.

During Media Day on Monday, Ham failed to promise the 2017 NBA MVP a spot in the starting lineup, further adding to the speculations that Westbrook could start games on the bench for the first time in his career.