The Lakers have officially announced JJ Redick’s coaching staff. Among the diversity of names on the new list, let’s just take a quick look at the men and ‘woman’ who will be responsible for rewriting Purple & Gold’s forgettable 2023-24 narrative. Nate McMillan, Scott Brooks, Bob Beyer, Greg St. Jean, Lindsey Harding, and Beau Levesque join JJ as assistant coaches while Michael Wexler was named the head video coordinator.

For this story, we’ll focus on none other than the first woman to be named the G League Coach of the Year – Lindsey Harding. By now, everyone is aware that the ex-Stockton Kings head coach has an impressive resume. From her playing years to her coaching days, Harding has been a trailblazer. And it includes a few firsts too.

Lindsey Harding – Breaking barriers at every step of the way

We already saw that she was the first woman to receive the Dennis Johnson trophy (G League COTY award – named after the late Hall of Famer and Celtics legend, Dennis Johnson). But it was a double honor. That’s because it was also the first time a Black woman received the recognition. Not to mention, she was the first woman to be the head coach of a G League team! However, this wasn’t her first, first.

Before this, during her international coaching stint, Lindsey Harding took on the duties of leading South Sudan’s first-ever senior women’s national basketball team. In the process, she became South Sudan’s first-ever women’s basketball head coach. If we were to go a little further back in time, more specifically, her WNBA days, we would find a ‘first’ there, as well after Phoneix Mercury drafted her as the No. 1 pick in 2007.

Having been naturalized as a citizen of Belarus in September 2015, Harding qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, representing the landlocked Eastern European country. A Duke alum, then-New York Liberty star, ended up being the first Blue Devil to compete in the Olympics. Just Harding being her awesome self!

Suffice it to say that the 40-year-old has been a beacon of change since her early days. But was basketball her first choice?

Harding’s love for sports was immense, but basketball…

Came later in her life. Yes, you read that right. Given her basketball journey, it would only make sense that Harding picked up a ball when she was three, right? That’s the kind of storyline that would fit the bill, right? Wrong!

“I wanted to run track in the Olympics. That was my thing… [but] gymnastics was probably my first love,” she admitted in an interview with an NBC-affiliated TV station based in Sacramento, KCRA 3. But that wasn’t all. She dabbled in soccer and tried her hand in volleyball as well. So, when did she decide to pursue basketball?

“My first year playing basketball in junior high was the first year the Houston Comets and the WNBA kind of started. Watching those women was very inspiring for me, and I made a goal right then and there — I wanted to play in the WNBA.”

Her Stockton Kings coaching tenure has been nothing short of excellence. Under her guidance, the Kings went on a stunning 24-10 record, finishing as the top team in the West. Had she continued, there was no doubt that the former 2007 No. 1 pick could have created more historical moments. As appealing as that was, her hunger and drive for more always led her to look for opportunities in the unlikeliest places. But there was a far more powerful driving force behind it.

“It’s not how basketball is embracing women, it’s how men are,“ Lindsey Harding stated the burning truth regarding women in decision-making roles

She was a force of nature, breaking the barriers, with a mindset to change the way women were perceived in the world of sports. “It’s not how basketball is embracing women, it’s how men are. They tend to be the ones in power making decisions. Time and time again women have to work twice as hard to prove they can do the same job a man can do. Stop putting us in a box. That way of thinking has to change and I have hope that it is, we see it happening,” Harding said in a chat with BBC Sport Africa in 2021.

This is the woman that the Los Angeles Lakers have hired to be a part of JJ Redick’s team. When the Lakers were running around, trying to assemble a competitive coaching squad to quell the biting remarks directed at the front office, they had little hope the 2024 G League COTY would accept an assistant coach role. After all, Lindsey Harding was in a good place. And their experience recruiting the UConn coach, Dan Hurley, had scarred them. Somewhat. But they had a job to do.

However, the 2007 Naismith College Player of the Year was already getting ready for a move to the NBA. She was among the candidates who applied for the head coach position with the Charlotte Hornets. So the readiness for an NBA gig was already there.

Regardless, would this history-making woman settle for an assistant role?

Perhaps the one aspect they might or might not have factored in was the comfort level she had with her fellow Duke athlete, JJ. After their Duke days, the pair reunited when JJ Redick was a Sixer and Harding worked with the 76ers as a player development coach. Moreover, the current LA head coach seems to have been a big supporter of Lindsey as a coach. Take a look at this tweet from 2020.

LaChina Robinson, basketball analyst for ESPN, had posted, “Who is on your list for the Duke Job?” Resharing the tweet, JJ tweeted, “Can we get a look for Lindsey Harding?” Clearly, the former sharpshooter held Harding in high esteem.

As she points out in her statement above, there’s still work to be done concerning women in sports. These women are working hard, sure. But it’s up to those in the decision-making roles to ensure that hard work pays off. And fortunately or unfortunately, the majority in that position are men. Given Harding’s history of firsts and the fact that she does have the goal of headlining an NBA team as the head coach, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if it happens in the foreseeable future.

And what better introduction to the male-dominated league than through the storied Lakers franchise, which, by the way, is run by a woman?

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.