Magic name Arnie Kander head of player performance and wellness staff

The Orlando Magic on Tuesday named Arnie Kander as their vice president of player performance and wellness.

Kander, who has more than 24 seasons of NBA experience, will lead the Magic’s high-performance staff, which includes the management of athletic training services, injury reduction and rehabilitation programming, strength and conditioning, sports science and recovery and player nutrition.

“We are thrilled to welcome Arnie to the Magic family,” Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said in a statement. “Over his career, Arnie has helped define the space of player performance. His experience and expertise will be invaluable as we train and care for our players. We look forward to him leading our performance team.”

Kander replaced Lindsay Winninger, who had been the Magic’s high performance director since September 2020 after joining the staff in 2019 as a physical therapist.

Winninger resigned from her position to move closer to home.

“We appreciate everything Lindsay did in leading the performance staff,” Weltman said. “She assembled a great team and they did a great job in returning our players from injury and maintaining their health for the remainder of the [2022-23] season.”

Kander is considered an “innovator in the fields of injury prevention, sports rehabilitation and physical conditioning” and is “renowned in the professional sports world for his unique methods of application,” according to the Magic.

He spent 23 seasons with the Detroit Pistons after joining the team in 1992 when he became the team’s first strength and conditioning coach.

Kander was responsible for injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation as well as designing and implementing programs aimed to enhance players’ flexibility, strength and conditioning.

After leaving the Pistons, Kander was the Minnesota Timberwolves’ vice president of sports performance during the 2015-16. He consulted with the Pistons and the Cleveland Cavaliers after his time in Minnesota.

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.

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