The start of JJ Redick’s head coaching tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers has unquestionably been a massive success as he followed up a 50 win season in 2024-25 with 53 wins in 2025-26.
The Lakers had back-to-back 50-wins seasons for the first time since 2011, but despite that, Redick was not named a finalist for the NBA Coach of the Year award. He did receive some votes, however, ultimately finishing seventh in the voting with Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics winning it:
A global media panel of 100 voters selected the 2025-26 NBA Coach of the Year.
Complete voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/es0GyIXSMe
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 26, 2026
Redick not finishing in the top three should not come as a surprise as the head coach himself has been vocal about the anti-Lakers bias in NBA awards voting.
The fact of the matter though is that there were numerous deserving candidates for the award, with Redick being one of them.
He led the Lakers to a 53-win season despite all of his key players missing time due to injury. LeBron James missed the first 14 games of the season and wound up playing in 60 total, while Austin Reaves only played in 51 and Luka Doncic in 64. Other players like Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes also missed time throughout the year.
Even with all that though, Redick kept his team focused and fighting until the very end. They had no business being the No. 4 seed in a loaded Western Conference, and then after both Doncic and Reaves went down at the end of the regular season, they were not expected to win a playoff series.
Redick was able to help make that happen by beating the Houston Rockets in six games before falling to the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round.
While the Lakers have a lot of question marks heading into the offseason, their head coach certainly is not one of them.
JJ Redick knows Lakers need to improve in order to compete
While Redick loved the fight the Lakers showed down the stretch of the 2025-26 season, he is also realistic about where they are at and what needs to be done in order to compete for a championship next year.
“Yeah, I believe in continuity,” he said at the end of the season. “I do think that if you’re trying to win a championship, and this organization is. I’m trying to win a championship. I know [Rob Pelinka] is trying to win a championship, I know Jeanie [Buss] is, I know Mark [Walter] is. We’re trying to win a championship. So you have to be realistic and assess where you’re at, and we’re not good enough right now. There probably will be some continuity; there probably won’t be. But that’s what the next two months are for.”
As Redick alluded to, changes will be necessary this offseason to improve the Lakers’ roster.
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