Lakers News: LA Hire Chris Jent as Top Assistant Coach

The Lakers have filled their top assistant coach spot on Darvin Ham's staff with Chris Jent.

Darvin Ham's coaching staff is beginning to come together. Although Ham did lose Vogel era holdover Quinton Crawford to the Dallas Mavericks this week, the new Lakers head coach has found a top assistant coach in Chris Jent.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was one of the first to report the news on Saturday.

The Lakers are hiring Atlanta Hawks assistant Chris Jent to become the top assistant coach, sources tell ESPN. New coach Darvin Ham recruited Jent over the past week to lead his staff. Jent has a strong history with LeBron James from early Cleveland years.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 18, 2022

Jent has spent 15 seasons as an assistant in the NBA. He's been on the staffs of five different organizations during his NBA coaching career. Jent started with Philadelphia, then spent two years in Orlando before landing in Cleveland for a five year run. Apparently, his history with LeBron in Cleveland is partly why Ham wanted to add Jent to his staff in Los Angeles.

Jent and Ham both served as assistants on Mike Budenholzer's staff in Atlanta for the 2017-2018 season.

Jent remained in Atlanta after Budenholzer and Ham took their talents to the Milwaukee Bucks organization.