Lakers ask for permission to interview Bucks assistant Charles Lee
The Los Angeles Lakers are continuing to do their due diligence when it comes to interviewing candidates for their head coaching vacancy.
They have now requested permission to interview Charles Lee, an assistant coach on Mike Budenholzer’s staff with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Lee, who is just 37 years of age, broke into the NBA in the 2014-15 season as an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks under Budenholzer, who was then their head coach.
When Budenholzer left Atlanta and joined the Bucks for the 2018-19 campaign, Lee went along with him to the Badger State.
The Bucks won the world championship last season, and they could end up repeating the feat this season, as they currently hold a 3-2 lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, even without three-time All-Star Khris Middleton.
The Lakers have requested permission to interview Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee for their head coaching job, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 12, 2022
Who is Charles Lee?
Lee is less well-known than Darvin Ham, another Milwaukee assistant whom the Lakers have already interviewed.
Unlike Ham, Lee never played in the NBA. He spent four years at Bucknell University, a liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania, then played four years of pro ball overseas before coming back to the States in 2012.
However, just last week, Kevin Pelton of ESPN had some nice things to write about Lee in his annual article about the top coaching prospects in the league.
Via ESPN:
“Another Bucks assistant, Charles Lee, has established himself as a multitool coach who projects confidence, emotional and tactical intelligence and affability. Colleagues marvel at his ability to relate to everyone, be it a two-way player (Lee played professionally overseas for four seasons) to an owner (he worked as a trader on Wall Street). A number of executives and coaches say that had Lee played one minute in the NBA (or had NBA bloodlines), he’d be gainfully employed as a head coach today. Such is the case in the NBA circa 2022, where owners and front offices increasingly favor those who have an NBA entry on Basketball Reference.”
Lee will be one of several young assistant coaches the Lakers have interviewed, along with Ham and the Toronto Raptors’ Adrian Griffin.
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