Lakers reportedly hire Ty Abbott as director of player development

The Lakers have reportedly landed their director of player development in Ty Abbott, a current coach with the Chicago Bulls.

The Lakers have reportedly landed their director of player development. While the team hasn’t announced it, nor has any reporter tweeted it, but an Instagram post seemed to confirm it.

According to CSE Talent, Ty Abbott has been hired by the Lakers for the position (h/t E Booker/Twitter).

While he is not a commonly known name, he is someone who immediately got the seal of approval from Zach LaVine. On his IG story, LaVine congratulated Abbott on the new job.

Abbott, as noted in the original IG post, has been on the Bulls staff. He was hired by Billy Donovan in 2020-21 as a player development coach.

Prior to that, Abbott was a development coach for the Sixers in the 2018-19 season. That season also happened to be the final season JJ Redick spent on the Sixers, which likely led to the relationship between the two initially forming. Abbott also spent a season as a coach in the G League in 2018-19 with the Delaware Blue Coats, an incredible team name.

Prior to that, Abbott had a playing career that began at Arizona State before stops across Europe.

Redick mentioned during his introductory press conference that the team would hire a director of player development. However, little insight has been given into what that role would entail.

With how much emphasis the Lakers are going to be putting on player development this year and moving forward, though, this figures to be a very important position.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.