Report: Clippers hiring Jeff Van Gundy to be Lue's lead assistant

The Los Angeles Clippers are hiring Jeff Van Gundy to be the lead assistant on Ty Lue's coaching staff, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Van Gundy spent the 2023-24 campaign as a senior consultant to the championship-winning Boston Celtics. The 62-year-old previously worked 16 seasons as a TV analyst for ESPN.

Van Gundy has head coaching experience, leading the New York Knicks to the 1999 NBA Finals amid a seven-season stint with the club in the late '90s. He then took over the Houston Rockets' bench for four seasons beginning in 2003-04.

The Clippers, who will move to the new Intuit Dome for next season after sharing the Crypto.com Arena with the Los Angeles Lakers since 1999, secured Lue for the long term with a reported five-year, $70-million contract in May.

Lue and Van Gundy have crossed paths numerous times in the basketball world. The pair overlapped in Houston during the 2004-05 campaign when Lue played 21 games for the Rockets during Van Gundy's second season with the team. They've also both held coaching roles for USA Basketball in recent years, with Lue serving as an assistant on Steve Kerr's staff and Van Gundy leading the U.S. through qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.