The Los Angeles Lakers officially have their new head coach for the 2024-25 season in former NBA player JJ Redick. The team plans to officially introduce Redick as coach on Monday during an introductory press conference that will be streamed on YouTube, as per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Monday is significant for Redick since not only will he be introduced as Lakers head coach, but it's his birthday and he will turn 40 years old. That makes him just slightly older than Lakers star LeBron James.
While the Lakers coaching search brought up several different names, including UConn head coach Dan Hurley, it appeared as if Redick was the one of the favorites throughout. Redick's hiring has brought mixed thoughts from the NBA community as he has no previous coaching experience.
Redick retired from the NBA in 2021 and has since been an NBA analyst on ESPN. He's also been in the podcast business including the recent “Mind the Game” alongside James. Redick's first order of business will be to fill out his coaching staff with names such as Monty Williams, Rajon Rondo an Jared Dudley being floated around. Williams was recently fired by the Detroit Pistons and Dudley is currently an assistant coach on the Dallas Mavericks staff.
The Lakers are a team that has aspirations of making a deep playoff run. Those are the expectations that Redick is walking into. JJ Redick's contract with the Lakers is for four years at around $8 million per year as per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Lakers face potentially busy offseason
With a head coach in place, the Lakers attention can now turn to the NBA Draft and their roster. As last season showed, the Lakers are not close to being a championship contender. They need more than just a new head coach.
But the number one priority for the Lakers this offseason is re-signing LeBron James to a long-term contract extension that will keep in Los Angeles for the remainder of his career. James has a player option this offseason and he's most likely going to opt-out. That doesn't mean that he's going to leave the Lakers, although that possibility, no matter how unlikely, is on the table.
The Lakers need to convince James that they represent his best option at competing for championships as long as he continues playing. While he may be in the twilight of his career, he's still playing at an All-Star level. Should James return as expected, the Lakers will have two pieces of the puzzle intact including Anthony Davis.
Where the team needs to improve is the pieces around their star duo. That has to come in the form of a trade as the Lakers don't have available cap space to spend in free agency.
The Lakers also have two draft picks, No. 17 and No. 55. It's possible they could end up trading the No. 17 pick as part of a package to improve the roster. At No. 55 they'd have more limited options although they've been linked to Bronny James, LeBron's son, at that draft spot.
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