Lakers ‘strengthen’ basketball operations foundation with major hires

The Lakers’ front office makeover continued on Friday.

The team announced it hired Keith D’Amelio as the franchise’s director of integrated performance systems, in addition to making the already-known hiring of Eric Amsler as an assistant general manager official.

D’Amelio and Amsler’s are the Lakers’ first major hires since Mark Walter agreed to sell the majority ownership of the Lakers to businessman Josh Kushner and ex-Disney executive Bob Iger at the historic valuation of $12.5 billion.

“Continuing to invest in and strengthen our basketball operations group is a top priority as we build for the long-term success of our team and players,” Lakers president of basketball operations/general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “Eric and Keith bring a wealth of experience that will add valuable expertise across our organization. Eric is a highly respected talent evaluator with an extensive background in scouting and player personnel, while Keith brings a unique perspective at the intersection of athlete health, performance, sport science and technology. We are excited to welcome them both to the Lakers.”

D’Amelio, who most recently worked for the New York Liberty, has over 25 years of experience across professional and collegiate sports in athlete health, performance, sport science and innovation.

D’Amelio was most recently the Liberty’s chief innovation officer, working across the WNBA franchise’s basketball operations, health and performance, analytics and applied science.

Before working for the Liberty, he spent 13 years at Nike, in addition to having roles with the Stanford’s men’s basketball team, the Raptors and Celtics.

Amsler’s official title with the Lakers is assistant general manager, player personnel.

He spent 22 years in the Heat organization, starting as an intern in 2004-05 before working his way up to various other roles, including being the Heat’s vice president of player personnel before joining the Lakers.