The Los Angeles D-Fenders, the NBA D-League teamed owned by the Lakers, is expected to hire Nick Mazzella as the new D-Fenders general manager, according to a team source.
Mazzella, a University of California Santa Barbara graduate, has served as the public relations coordinator for the Los Angeles Lakers since 2006. Prior to that, he served as an intern in the Lakers Public Relations department. In 2005-06, after his internship and before being hired on full-time, Mazzella worked as a part-time basketball operations assistant for the Lakers. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Managerial Economics and a minor in Sports Management. Conveniently, the D-Fenders personnel share the same office building as the Lakers. So, while Mazzella will be making a huge career advancement, he’ll only be hallway away from his prior office.
The D-Fenders just recently named Bob MacKinnon, who spent two seasons at the helm of the Springfield Armor helping five players earn NBA Call-Ups, as the new head coach. There’s plenty of crossover between the Lakers and D-Fenders. The Lakers just recently added Mark Madsen (former D-Fenders head coach) and Larry Lewis (former D-Fenders assistant coach) onto their coaching staff as player development coaches.
Glenn Carraro has held the D-Fenders general manager position since 2011. He was promoted to the Lakers Assistant General Manager in 2012. Joey Buss remains the D-Fenders Team President and CEO.
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