South Bay Lakers Fire Head Coach Dane Johnson

L.A.'s G League affiliate squad has moved on from its 2023-24 head coach.

Jul 7, 2024; San Francisco, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers summer league head coach Dane Johnson on the sideline during the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The South Bay Lakers, the Los Angeles Lakers' NBA G League affiliate squad in El Segundo, has moved on from head coach Dane Johnson, according to the club's official X account. Johnson also served as the head coach for this year's underwhelming Summer League squad.

Johnson coached the South Bay Lakers to a 26-24 record in 2023-24, his lone season with the club. Four of his charges earned NBA call-ups, South Bay reveals. The Summer League vintage of the Lakers went 0-3 during its California Classic run, but followed that up by going 3-2 in the Las Vegas segment of the team's play (though they started 0-2). For their cumulative efforts, the Summer League Lakers notched a combined 3-5 record.

Rookie shooting guard Dalton Knecht, selected with the No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft out of Tennessee, appeared in six Summer League games altogether, averaging 18.0 points on a .367/.342/.767 slash line, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals a night. He did not make an All-Summer League Team, despite his prodigious output.

Things were a bit murkier for rookie point guard Bronny James. The 19-year-old Sierra Canyon School product was drafted with the No. 55 pick after a one-and-done 2023-24 NCAA season with the USC Trojans. In six contests this summer, the 6-foot-2 guard averaged 7.0 points while slashing .327/.130/.625, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals a night.

A replacement for Johnson has yet to be named. Associate head coach and director of player development Brian Walsh is the highest-ranked remaining player on the South Bay Lakers' staff as of this writing. The G League squad will prove imperative for the team, as it looks to develop Bronny James, son of 20-time All-Star Lakers combo forward LeBron James, mostly at that level — despite Bronny James being inked to a guaranteed four-year deal with L.A.'s 15-man standard roster. Clearly, Lakers brass was not confident in Johnson's ability to get the most out of Bronny James at the NBAGL level in 2024-25.

On the Lakers side, first-year head coach JJ Redick recently shored up his own assistant staff. This week, he announced the hirings of assistant coaches Nate McMillan, Scott Brooks, Bob Beyer, Greg St. Jean, Lindsey Harding and Beau Levesque. Ty Abbott will serve as director of player development, while Michael Wexler is the team's new head video coordinator.

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