Lakers hire Leroy Sims as Director of Player Performance and Health

The Lakers announced the hiring of Leroy Sims, who has worked with the NBA for a number of years, as the Direct of Player Performance and Health on Wednesday.

The Lakers announced another new addition to their franchise on Wednesday, hiring Dr. Leroy Sims as the team’s new Director of Player Performance and Health. While not a name largely any fans will recognize, Sims, who had previously been the Senior Vice President, Head of Medical Operations with the NBA itself, played a big role in the formation of the bubble in Orlando where the Lakers won their title in 2020.

Per the Lakers’ press release, Sims “will report to Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka and will oversee player medical care and the optimization of health and performance.”

Sims has previously worked as the team physician for USA Track & Field at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and worked with the USA Basketball teams at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics. He also was the medical director and team physical for the Warriors from 2011-14.

Sims received both his bachelor and doctorate degrees from Stanford University and completed his Emergency Medicine residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

His work with the bubble, though, is what fans likely will be most familiar with him for. In 2021, Sims spoke to Marc Spears of Andscape and spoke on a number of topics, including how his role in creating the bubble impacted his career.

I have a visibility that I didn’t have previously. And it has led to giving me the opportunity to share with the world some of my thoughts and feelings as it relates to medicine, as it relates to sports, as it relates to the pandemic in particular, and as it relates to the Black community and things that I feel very passionate about. So, I have been able to share my feelings about increasing the population of underrepresented minorities in medicine and trying to improve the pipelines.

I’ve been able to talk about disparities in health care in a more public platform. And most recently I did an interview with San Mateo County [California] Health, talking about the vaccine. And so it’s been an opportunity to externalize some of the thoughts I’ve had, some of the career objectives that I’ve wanted to pursue. And so that’s really what has changed for me.

Sims stayed with the league after the formation of the bubble and helped them navigate through the following seasons, including the 2021-22 campaign which was full of delays and cancellations due to COVID outbreaks. He also played a big role in the rollout of vaccines and informing players and those in the league of the vaccine.

There was no word of the Lakers making changes to their medical staff after the season, so this could simply be adding a new position to staff.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.