Former D-Fenders Assistant Coach Larry Lewis Gets NBA Coaching Gig

Over the course of the NBA Finals this month, the Spurs' Danny Green is proving that the D-League can sometimes be one's bridge to truly emerging as a starring attraction on the utmost national of stages.

Green provides plenty of NBADL athletes with the hope that achieving success at the NBA level once you receive that call-up is always within reach.

But of course, the D-League isn't simply only just for players anymore. A slew of NBA coaches and front office executives have made their way up through the minor league, and the Los Angeles Lakers just made Larry Lewis the latest one to do so.

Lewis spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles D-Fenders (the D-League affiliate of the Lakers). Receiving a nice promotion, Lewis won't have to go far at all to join Mike D'Antoni's big league staff.

Lewis will reportedly join the NBA squad in a player development role. Clearly, such a role makes sense as one that is right up his alley, due to his experience with promising young guns and those who strive to break into the league on a nightly basis.

With many of D'Antoni's assistant coaches from last season departing the Lakers, there are a handful of spots on the coaching bench to be filled. But Lewis' appointment probably isn't just a common courtesy. In addition to winning a Silver Medal during the Pan American Games while on Team USA in 1995, Lewis brings some more international flavor to the Lakers, having played basketball in six different countries. He last played as recently as 2011.

Such experience is the exactly the type that makes him a nice fit on D'Antoni's staff.