Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has been able to build his offense around Luka Doncic and the results have been great in their first full season together.
Doncic leads the league in scoring and that’s helped the Lakers stay competitive in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, Redick has done his best to get Los Angeles playing with more urgency on both ends of the floor as the 2025-26 season winds down.
With how close the standings are, it’s not unusual to see tensions run high on the sidelines. For example, Doncic and Redick were seen having words on the bench in the recent win against the Golden State Warriors and the moment went viral on social media.
However, Redick downplayed the exchange with Doncic and emphasized the two have a great relationship.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time, to be honest with you. I don’t think Luka did either,” Redick said before Tuesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. “He and I have a great relationship, I really value our relationship. And I think those things happen, not every game, but they happen very frequently and sometimes you have to rehash them with a player or as a teammate sometimes it happens player to player.
“It’s a competition and there’s two guys here, who, in this case, are trying to win a basketball game and be on the same page about stuff. Frankly, I talk about player-led teams all the time, I encourage guys talking to me or talking to our coaches and bringing stuff up and telling us what they need. I don’t know why it went viral, it felt very normal to me.”
Redick added that it’s routine for him to deal with outside noise as a member of the Lakers organization and he and Luka already discussed the incident.
“It just feels normal, which is probably part of the reason I wanted to coach the Lakers,” Redick said. “I was talking with Luka about it, we were actually laughing about it. I was like, ‘I didn’t feel any tension,’ and he was like, ‘Nah, I didn’t care about it.’ You do it and you move on. But I think the reality is, everybody is always gonna have an opinion. Since pro spots have existed, everybody has always had an opinion. Sports talk, barber shops, chat rooms, everybody’s had an opinion. Now, everybody’s opinion is more easily accessible. So it’s more amplified now. But it’s normal.”
Any sort of discord between a player and coach will get amplified, but as Redick noted these types of situations are commonplace in the NBA. Heated exchanges should be expected when a team like the Lakers can’t afford to lose many more games.
JJ Redick explains ‘daring’ part of Luka Doncic’s game
Luka Doncic might drive JJ Redick mad with his decision making sometimes, but that’s built into his play style as a scorer and playmaker. Redick explained the daring part of Doncic’s game and how it allows the Lakers superstar to shift the tide in a game.
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