Warriors assistant coach Jama Mahlalela to take job with Raptors: report

Looks like the Warriors are in the market for a new director of player development.

Warriors assistant coach Jama Mahlalela is reportedly returning to Toronto to take a job as the Raptors lead assistant.

Mahlalela is a developmental guru who’s been lauded for his abilities to simplify complex analytics to help better players. The 42-year-old will be joined by Wizards assistant Pat Delany as being a top assistants on Darko Rajakovic’s staff, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday afternoon.

Mahlalela has worked the last two seasons with the Warriors playing a role in helping evolve players, including Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II, into key contributors on a championship-winning team. He served as the head coach for the Warriors’ summer league team in Las Vegas last summer and handled the team’s rotations while also overseeing its player development structure this season.

Before joining ahead of the 2021-22 season, Mahlalela was the head coach of Toronto’s G League affiliate for two seasons and spent seven seasons with the Raptors, serving as an assistant coach and director of player development.

Mahlalela played five years at the University of British Columbia before graduating in 2004. He later took an assistant job at the University of Toronto before being named the director of basketball operations for NBA Asia, a position he held for five years.

The Raptors hired Grizzlies assistant coach Rajakovic earlier this week to replace Nick Nurse, who was fired after a disappointing 41-41 season that ended with a loss in the play-in tournament to the Chicago Bulls.