The Los Angeles Lakers have hired former Sacramento Kings head coach Reggie Theus to coach the minor-league affiliate L.A. Defenders of the NBA Developmental League, according to Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register.
Theus formerly coached the Kings and most recently was the lead man at New Mexico State. He is replacing Eric Musselman, who left the D-Fenders job to pursue a position as an assistant coach with Arizona State. Theus is looking to get back into the college coaching ranks, and will likely need to prove himself as a head coach at any level before being trusted to run another program.
In 106 games as the head coach of the Kings, Theus amassed a 44-62 record, good enough for a .415 winning percentage. In 15 NBA seasons as a player, he averaged 18.5 points, 6.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 3.3 rebounds in 1,026 career games.
Terms of the contract were not yet made available.