Lakers hire Lindsey Harding as team’s first female assistant

Lindsey Harding, the G League coach of the year last season, will join J.J. Redick’s first staff with the Lakers, the Times learned from multiple people not authorized to discuss the negotiations.

If hired, she would become the first full-time female assistant in team history.

Harding, 40, played college basketball at Duke at the same time as Redick. She was the first overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft and had a nine-year WNBA career with Minnesota, Washington, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York and Phoenix.

She worked in Philadelphia while Redick was a player for the 76ers before moving to Sacramento, where she was an assistant for the past five seasons, including her time in the G League when she coached the Stockton Kings.

She interviewed for the head coaching position in Charlotte earlier this summer. Harding will become one of four women currently holding assistant coaching positions in the league.

The Lakers’ staff will also include former coaches Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan as well as former Lakers assistant Greg St. Jean. Former Charlotte and Orlando assistant Bob Beyer is also expected to be on the staff.

Kings assistant coach Lindsey Harding, center, reviews video with Domantas Sabonis, right, and Jeremy Lamb in 2022.

(José Luis Villegas / Associated Press)

Redick was in Las Vegas with the Lakers for summer league and conducted interviews to round out his staff, which he said will focus on player development.

Harding became the first black woman to coach a G League team. Her Coach of the Year award was voted on by the league’s coaches and general managers.

The Lakers are still finalizing the player development department.

“The player development program that we’re trying to build is holistic,” Redick said earlier this summer. “I think a lot of times when people talk about player development, they talk about ball-handling, shooting and passing, and certainly the mechanics of the game of basketball are a big part of player development. But it’s also tactical. It’s reading, it’s integrating film, it’s integrating analytics. We’re hoping to hire a director of player development in the next few days or weeks who understands my vision.”

“It’s nutrition. It’s how you take care of your body, your work in the weight room. There’s also, I think, a big part of player development, and for someone who’s been around this league for a long time, a big part of that is mental development.”