The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Lindsey Harding as an assistant coach for JJ Redick’s staff, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Harding will be the first woman to coach for the Lakers and join Jenny Boucek (Pacers), Brittni Donaldson (Hawks) and Sonia Raman (Grizzlies) as women actively on NBA coaching staffs.
Harding was named G League Coach of the Year last season for her work with the Stockton Kings, the Sacramento Kings’ affiliate. In her first season in the role, Harding led the Kings to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and an appearance in the semifinals of the G League playoffs.
After a disappointing first-round exit last season, the Lakers fired Darvin Ham and hired Redick as their new head coach in June despite the fact that he had no previous coaching experience. In the time since, he has started to build out his staff with a number of veterans, including long-time NBA head coaches Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks. He also brought back Greg St. Jean, who was previously an assistant with the Lakers under Frank Vogel.
Redick and Harding were both at Duke as players at the same time from 2002-06, and reconnected in Philadelphia a decade later when Redick played for the 76ers and Harding worked as a player development coach for the organization.
During her playing days, Harding was named Naismith Player of the Year in 2007 before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft. She spent nine seasons in the league with six teams, and also played overseas in a number of countries, most notably Turkey.
After retiring in 2017, Harding was hired by the Sixers as a scout, becoming the first black woman to hold that job on a full-time basis in the NBA, then later became a player development coach. In 2019, she was hired by the Kings as an assistant coach and had been with the organization ever since.
In addition to her NBA and G League work, she was briefly the head coach of South Sudan’s women’s national team and is currently the head coach of Mexico’s women’s national team.
Earlier this year, Harding interviewed for the Charlotte Hornets‘ head coaching vacancy, but the job ultimately went to Charles Lee.
