Report: Sam Mitchell is frontrunner to coach Jalen Green’s new G League team

Jalen Green’s plan to forgo college altogether and enter the NBA G League’s professional pathway program was the talk of the town this week, and now he may be aided in his pursuit by one veteran NBA head coach.

Sportnado’s Emiliano Carchia reported this weekend that ex-Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell is the frontrunner to become head coach of the new G League team in Los Angeles that Green, the 18-year-old guard, will headline.

Mitchell, 56, served as Raptors coach for five seasons and won NBA Coach of the Year in 2007. Since then, he has had stints as an assistant for the New Jersey Nets, the interim coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and, most recently, an assistant under Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis.

Running the Los Angeles G League team will be an especially exciting gig, as it is loaded with talent with Green, the top shooting guard in the 2020 class, set to share the spotlight with fellow five-star recruit Isaiah Todd, among others. The entire professional pathway program, which is outside of the G League’s traditional structure of competition, is a compelling endeavor as an alternative for elite high school athletes, which you can read more about here.