Lakers Champ Takes Head Coaching Job At SF Valley High School

LOS ANGELES -- Ex NBA player Derek Fisher, who won five NBA champions with the Lakers and also coached the LA Sparks in the WNBA, is taking over as coach of a high school basketball team in Encino.

On Monday, Crespi Carmelite High School, an all-male, private Catholic school in the Encino District, announced Fisher's hiring as its head basketball coach.

"We are honored and excited to welcome Coach Fisher to the Crespi Family. Coach Fisher brings to Crespi his strong work ethic, leadership, and discipline that are rooted in his Christian faith.," the school said in a news release.

Fisher was born and raised in Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where he earned Sunbelt Conference Player of the Year during his college career before being selected 24th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1996 NBA draft.

With the Lakers, he won five NBA championships. In 2014, after 18 years as a player, Fisher began his coaching career as head coach of the New York Knicks. He later was head coach and general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks until being let go in June, 2022.

“My family and I are thankful and grateful for this opportunity to join the Crespi Family," Fisher said in a statement provided by the school. "Coaching and teaching is a true passion and I look forward to continuing this focus on the next generation of young student-athletes. "