The Los Angeles Lakers are adding DeMarre Carroll to Darvin Ham's coaching staff for the 2023-24 season, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
Carroll, 36, spent last season — his first as an assistant coach — working under Mike Budenholzer with the Milwaukee Bucks. Carroll, who played 11 seasons in the NBA (2009-2020), was coached by Budenholzer and then-assistant Ham with the Atlanta Hawks in 2013-14 and 2014-15. The latter squad — for which Carroll started 69 of his 70 appearances — won a franchise-record 60 games.
The Lakers have a few open jobs after multiple assistants opted to reunite with Frank Vogel on the Phoenix Suns' sideline: assistant coach/South Bay Lakers head coach Miles Simon, advanced scout/player development coach Jon Pastorek, and assistant coach/video coordinator Dru Anthrop. (Two other former Lakers assistants, John Lucas III, and David Fizdale, are also heading to Phoenix.)
Lakers assistant and player development guru Phil Handy — who played a significant role in the improvement of Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, among others — said recently that he'll return to the Lakers bench next season.
A hard-nosed 3-and-D wing — not unlike Taurean Prince, whom the Lakers agreed to a contract with at the beginning of free agency — Carroll averaged 8.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and shot 35.8% from 3 over his NBA career. The Lakers will hope that Carroll — along with Handy, Prince, and, of course, LeBron James — can help develop their stable of young wings with varying degrees of two-way potential, including Reaves, Cam Reddish, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and Maxwell Lewis.
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