Report: Lakers icon Jackson advising team on coaching search

Former longtime NBA head coach Phil Jackson is advising Los Angeles Lakers management as the team searches for its next head coach, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday.

Jackson captured 11 championships as an NBA head coach, including five across two stints with the Lakers in 1999-2004 and 2005-11. Thanks to his work with the Lakers and Chicago Bulls, Jackson was named one of the top 15 coaches in NBA history as part of the league's 75th-anniversary celebrations this past year.

From 2014-17, Jackson served as president of the New York Knicks.

Los Angeles dismissed coach Frank Vogel, who Jackson also had a hand in the Lakers hiring in 2019, after three seasons. The team won its most recent title in 2020 with the five-time Coach of the Month at the helm. However, L.A. saw its record drop to 42-30 (.583) in 2020-21 and then 33-49 (.402) this past season amid injuries to key players, a lack of depth, and the incongruent fit of former MVP Russell Westbrook, whom the team acquired last summer.

Among the potential coaching candidates the Lakers are reportedly assessing is Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, who served on L.A.'s staff from 2011-13.

Since Jackson's retirement from coaching in 2011, no Lakers coach has lasted longer than three seasons on the sidelines.

Jackson was previously engaged to Lakers governor Jeanie Buss. They announced the end of their engagement in 2016.