The Los Angeles Lakers have officially agreed to hire JJ Redick as their new head coach on a four-year contract, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Redick was offered the job by Lakers executive Rob Pelinka on Thursday and will now be tasked with assembling his staff with experienced minds across the NBA.
While he may not have prior coaching experience, Redick was long rumored to be in the running for the Lakers' coaching vacancy after they fired Darvin Ham because of his long playing career and his relationship with superstar LeBron James. The two started their Mind the Game podcast earlier this year, leading many to believe that Redick was James' top choice to become the Lakers new head coach.
However, there have been numerous reports suggesting that James has had zero involvement in the team's coaching search. His agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, has also echoed similar remarks. Now that the Lakers have hired Redick, the noise that he was LeBron's first choice will only grow.
Prior to retiring in 2021 after 15 NBA seasons with six different organizations, Redick was one of the first active players to get involved with the media side of basketball through a series of podcasts for different networks. In 2020, he co-founded ThreeFourTwo Productions and began The Old Man and the Three podcast. Just this past year, Redick served as an on-air sports analyst for ESPN and has been a part of the company's main broadcasting crew, including at the 2024 NBA Finals.
While it appeared as if Redick was the favorite to land the job at first, the Lakers had turned their attention to UConn Men's Basketball head coach Dan Hurley in recent weeks. The Lakers met with Hurley in person last week and offered him a six-year, $70 million contract. Ultimately, Hurley decided to return to Connecticut in an attempt to win his third straight national championship with the Huskies.
Redick, 39, will now be tasked with not only guiding the Lakers to championship status right away, but he will also be responsible for the development of this team after James is ready to retire.
JJ Redick's fit with Lakers
Like many younger coaches entering the league, Redick has an extensive analytical background. Aside from seeing the game from a different perspective due to his playing career, Redick's analysis on ESPN and in his podcasts is always filled with breakdowns of certain players' strengths and weaknesses. Much like Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics, Redick approaches the game with the mindset of increasing the odds of success.
However, this is Redick's first time being a head coach.
It is certainly a surprise to see the Lakers want to pursue another first-year head coach, especially after things did not pan out with Ham over his two years in Los Angeles. Then again, Redick can relate to a locker room a lot more than an older coach due to the respect he still commands around the league. His basketball IQ is also a lot higher than others.
Before we had Stephen Curry and others running off screens as a three-point shooter, JJ Redick was making a living off of this during his playing career. He simply had a knack for finding open spots on the court, and Redick was always held in high regard due to his understanding of how he would see plays develop before they even happened.
The Lakers will value his creativity as their head coach, and they will also count on Redick's work ethic. His competitiveness and drive to know everything that there is to know about the subject at hand make him a very intriguing head coach entering the NBA.
Hiring a head coach in the NBA is not easy. The Lakers have had to deal with this firsthand on multiple occasions over the last decade, which is why they believe Redick can be their long-term answer.
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