Lakers player development coach and advance scout Greg St. Jean expected to join Mavericks

St. Jean has been with the Lakers for the past two seasons.

More changes are on the horizon for Frank Vogel’s coaching staff. According to a report from NBA insider Marc Stein, Lakers player development coach and advance scout Greg St. Jean is set to leave Los Angeles to join Jason Kidd’s coaching staff with the Dallas Mavericks.

St. Jean, son of former Sacramento Kings head coach and Golden State Warriors general manager Garry St. Jean, was hired by the Lakers in 2019, the same year that Vogel was hired. In an interview with David Kagulu-Kalema of The Coin Flyp last year, St. Jean said that he turned down better-paying jobs from the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks to join the Lakers.

In the same interview, he also detailed what his job looks like on a day-to-day basis:

I’ve got a unique hybrid role. When I’m with the team, I’m a coach. I’m working with guys on the court, I’m involved in our meetings, and I’m a part of practice. My main job is to be the opposition specialist. I’m supposed to have the best insight to the other 29 teams.

The advance scout role for most teams is a guy who is always away from the team to scout and know all the other teams’ play calls. Frank Vogel and I had a great agreement. He wanted me around the team as much as possible which aligned with my vision for myself. I wanted to be a part of our strategy, I wanted to be a part of our meetings. I wanted to feel involved because I came from such a high level of involvement at St. Johns. Because of my scouting responsibilities, I have the reports, play calls, and strategy for each upcoming opponent done well in advance before we play them.

In game, my job is to know all the answers to the test so that when teams call plays, I can relay what is coming to our players and coaching staff. Juggling both roles typically puts me in an NBA gym 29 out of 31 days in a month because I’m either scouting another opponent or coaching our game. Lots of flights, but worth it.

Before his time with the Lakers, St. Jean served as an assistant coach under Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Mullin at St. John’s University for four years. During that time, his responsibilities included scouting, game preparation, player development and video operations, according to the Lakers’ coaching staff glossary.

The South Bay Lakers coaching staff — led by Coby Karl — have taken on more scouting duties in the past year because of the the affect that the coronavirus pandemic had on the G League, but given the fact that the G League is expected to resume its normal operations next season and St. Jean was the only advance scout on the team, it’s safe to assume that they’ll try and fill that position soon.

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