Rasheed Wallace To Join Lakers As Assistant Coach

Former NBA forward Rasheed Wallace will be joining new Lakers coach Darvin Ham as an assistant, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Wallace, 47, served as an assistant with Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis this past season. His lone NBA coaching experience came when he was an assistant with the Pistons during the 2013-14 season.

Ham was hired as Lakers coach late last month and after serving as an assistant with Mike Budenholzer with the Bucks and Hawks, is about to embark on his first head-coaching job. It’s a big one, given that the Lakers are the Lakers and currently feature a roster that includes LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.

In other words, expectations will again be sky high. But Ham and Wallace won a championship as players, as the two were teammates on the 2004 Pistons team — that actually upset the Lakers of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in the Finals.

This past season’s Lakers are coming off a disappointment of a season, failing to reach even the play-in tournament despite the presence of the aforementioned big names. 

The Lakers parted ways with coach Frank Vogel after the season, opening the door for Ham … and now Wallace.