Kendrick Perkins joins the “First Take” crew to explain why he believes the Lakers are in a good spot with the same squad from last season. (1:37)
The Los Angeles Lakers are hiring Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks as top assistants on JJ Redick’s new staff, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday.
Redick gets two longtime coaches for his staff that have a combined 31 seasons of head coaching experience between them.
McMillan, 59, was fired as coach of the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 21. He had replaced Lloyd Pierce as interim coach for the Hawks in 2021, engineered a run to the Eastern Conference finals and was awarded a four-year contract.
He went 99-80 with Atlanta and has a career record of 760-668. Prior to joining the Hawks, he spent five seasons with Seattle, seven with Portland and four with Indiana.
McMillan has taken his teams to 11 playoff appearances, going 28-48.
Brooks had been serving as an assistant with the Trail Blazers on Chauncey Billups’ staff. He last served as head coach of the Washington Wizards, with whom he spent five seasons from 2016 to 2021. Prior to that, he coached the Oklahoma City Thunder for seven seasons.
He has a career record of 521-414 and went 49-48 in the playoffs.