Intentional or not, shots were fired by Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch toward Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick in a recent interview. Redick gave his team a firm reality check after ugly losses to the Atlanta Hawks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then, he caught, perhaps, a stray, from Timberwolves' coach Finch.

Finch made a comment regarding the rising population of sports podcasts these days, while adding a subtle jab at Redick, who hosted his own NBA podcast before becoming the Lakers head coach in 2024. Finch, alongside NBA insider and podcast host, Zach Lowe, made his comment about podcasts at a live episode, per Lowe's X, formerly Twitter.

“I bet you 3/4 of these people are gonna go home and do a podcast tonight,” Finch said. “I mean, it'll qualify you to coach the Lakers.”

The Lakers, losers of two of their last three games, fell to 8-4, which is the fifth-best record in the Western Conference. After losing to the Thunder, Lakers veteran Luka Doncic shouldered the blame for his poor performance in a 121-92 loss.

“Probably one of the worst this season,” Doncic acknowledged. “Wallace did a great job on me. They're champions for a reason. They showed that today.”

Doncic finished with 19 points on 7-of-20 attempts, including 1-for-7 from deep, seven rebounds, seven assists, and two turnovers. Austin Reaves (five) and Doncic combined for nine of the Lakers' whopping 20 turnovers.

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The Thunder, amidst a four-game winning streak, improved to 12-1. The defending champions has the best record in the NBA, coming off an impressive back-to-back that started with a 126-102 rout against the Warriors, and ended with another blowout win against the Lakers on Wednesday.

JJ Redick calls out Lakers for recent pair of losses

Lakers Head Coach JJ Redick watches from the sideline during the first quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center
Brian Westerholt-Imagn Images

Lakers head coach JJ Redick addressed his team's recent string of losses on Wednesday night, stating the two performances did not reflect his team's best effort.

“The Atlanta game and tonight, I don't think were reflective of who the group is going to be, but it's clearly who the group is right now,” Redick stated when discussing the blowout losses.

The Lakers will look to bounce back against the Pelicans on Friday.