Lue will look to help the Americans clinch a World Cup berth this month.
Ahead of this year’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is joining the USA Basketball men’s national team coaching staff.
Lue will be taking the place of Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Willaims, who is stepping down in consideration of his family and himself. The third-year Clippers head coach will work under Warriors’ Steve Kerr alongside Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat and Mark Few of Gonzaga.
Welcome to the #USABfamily, Coach Lue!@LAClippers head coach Tyronn Lue joins the #USABMNT coaching staff as an assistant for 2023-24.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) February 8, 2023
There’s no doubt that Lue will be a big addition to the American coaching staff.
In his first year as a head coach, he helped Lebron James and the Cleaveland Cavaliers to win the 2016 NBA championship, completing a historic 3-1 comeback against the star-stacked Warriors team.
He continued to make history with his second job as a head coach. Again in his first year, Lue led the Clippers to their first-ever Western Conference Finals appearance. En route to the WCF, he coached the Clippers to two miraculous comebacks after being down 0-2 in the series.
Most notably, his Clippers overcame a 25-point deficit in Game 6 of the second round of the 2021 Playoffs. He did all of that without his best player: Kawhi Leonard.
In the 2022-23 season, the basketball mastermind has helped the injury-prone Clippers to secure the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
In just his first two head coach jobs, he’s proven that he can handle and perform under pressure. More notably, he’s a coach that knows how to deal with superstars and rosters that consists of 12 players that can all hoop. His coaching prudence and offensive schemes will be a great new boost for Team USA as it approaches two very important tournaments.
Lue said of his job with the national team:
“I am truly honored to represent our country and join this great group of coaches. Coaching USA Basketball has always been a dream of mine, and I’m humbled to take on the challenge.”
This, alongside gifting the Clippers their first championship, will be a golden opportunity for him to put his coaching brilliance in full display.