Los Angeles Lakers have officially promoted assistant athletic trainer Nina Hsieh to head athletic trainer for the upcoming 2019-20 NBA season, the team announced.
“Nina has been an invaluable member of the Lakers and South Bay Lakers training staffs for over a decade,” said general manager Rob Pelinka in the team’s press release.
“[Hsieh]’s wealth of experience, ability to forge relationships of trust with the players, as well as the knowledge and passion she brings to this position, make her the perfect fit for this role, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Under Dr. Judy Seto’s leadership who is the director of sports performance, Hsieh will ‘oversee the training staff’ and work with the team’s front office and coaching staff to ‘ensure the highest level of on-court performance.’
As a California State University, Fullerton graduate, Hsieh served as the University of California, Santa Barbara’s women’s basketball team (2004-08) and men’s soccer team (2010-11) before taking her talents to Los Angeles.
For the first seven seasons, Hsieh was the South Bay Lakers head athletic trainer before being promoted to the Lakers as their assistant athletic trainer for the last three seasons.
Hsieh replaces former head athletic trainer Marco Nunez now, who was fired at the end of the 2018-19 NBA season. During Nunez’s final season, players missed 212 total games due to injury, which was the ninth-most in the league.
With Seto and Hsieh, the Lakers are hoping to prevent and minimize injuries that have plagued them in recent seasons.
As there are legitimate championship aspirations for the first time since the 2012-13 season, LeBron James and Anthony Davis staying healthy is of utmost importance.
