Jeff Van Gundy agrees to deal to become Clippers’ lead assistant, per source: How he fits

Jeff Van Gundy and the LA Clippers have agreed to a deal that will bring the former television analyst to the organization as the lead assistant on coach Tyronn Lue’s staff, a team source confirmed Tuesday.

ESPN first reported the news.

Van Gundy, 62, spent the 2024 season as a senior consultant for the Boston Celtics, helping the franchise achieve a record 18th championship after the team’s Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals on Monday.

Before joining the Celtics, Van Gundy served as an analyst for ESPN for 16 years but was let go amid a round of cost-saving layoffs at the network last June.

He joined ESPN in 2007 — most notably appearing on NBA Finals broadcasts alongside Mike Breen and Mark Jackson during his time at the network — after 11 seasons in the NBA as a head coach for the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. His head-coaching record in the league was 430-318 (.575).

Lue played for a season under Van Gundy while with the Rockets in 2004, and the two coached together on USA Basketball’s staff.

How Van Gundy fits with the Clippers

The Clippers already had an active offseason regarding their coaching situation, extending Lue on a five-year deal in May. But Lue lost multiple members of his coaching staff, including associate head coach Dan Craig, the team’s de facto defensive coordinator. Craig left the team to serve as the lead assistant for the Chicago Bulls.

That’s where Van Gundy comes in. The Clippers called Van Gundy “one of the brightest basketball minds in the world.” Lue started the 2004-05 season with Van Gundy’s Rockets before being traded to Atlanta for Jon Barry. Twenty years later, Van Gundy and Lue are on the same team again.

Besides bringing a fresh voice in, it will be interesting to see if Lue decides to have Van Gundy run the Clippers’ defense in Craig’s stead. Those 2004-05 Rockets that Lue was on ranked fourth in defensive efficiency while allowing the fewest points in the paint. It’s worth mentioning that he had future Hall of Fame centers Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo manning the paint. Van Gundy’s coaching tree includes Tom Thibodeau, who is known for packing the paint even now as the coach of the New York Knicks.

Van Gundy hasn’t been a coach in the NBA since 2007 and hasn’t been an assistant since the Knicks fired Don Nelson in March 1996. But Van Gundy kept his basketball mind fresh, serving as a consultant with the championship-winning Celtics this past season while guiding the U.S. basketball team in the 2017 AmeriCup tournament and qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Another coach to watch on Lue’s staff is Dahntay Jones. Last year, Jones led the Clippers in the summer league, and he is expected to be leading that role again, per a team source. When Craig was injured in 2022, Jones was given increased responsibilities to help run the defense. Now, Jones could be working with Van Gundy as the Clippers look to improve from a season where the Clippers were 16th in defensive efficiency. — Law Murray, Clippers staff writer

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(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)