The Los Angeles Lakers’ search for a new coach has finally come to an end with the reported hiring of JJ Redick, a former player and media personality who just got done calling the NBA Finals for ESPN.
Redick was the early frontrunner in the Lakers’ search before a surprise pursuit of UConn head coach Dan Hurley. When they failed to land Hurley, L.A.circled back to Redick and he was said to be impressive in the interview process.
Hiring someone with zero coaching experience is obviously a big risk, especially for a team that has championship aspirations right away. But the Lakers are betting that Redick will be able to make the adjustment if he has a strong coaching staff around him.
Redick has reportedly wanted to get into coaching ‘badly’ and is said to be an extremely hard worker that will take this opportunity seriously. Not everyone gets to coach LeBron James and Anthony Davis in a historic organization like the Lakers for their first job, so Redick will want to make the most of it to prove L.A.’s brass made the right decision.
Regardless, coming off Darvin Ham’s tenure as head coach where there were a number of disagreements with players, Redick will need buy-in from them to be successful and it seems he already has that with Austin Reaves notably calling him a basketball genius.
But with the Lakers taking so long in their coaching search before landing on Redick, they will need to get the ball rolling. Not only does he need to put a coaching staff together, but the NBA Draft is on Wednesday and Thursday with free agency set for Sunday afternoon and then Summer League the following week.
The Lakers have a ton of important decisions to make over the next week and Redick will certainly have some influence when shaping the roster and coaching staff.
With that being the case, the Lakers scheduled a press conference for Monday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. PT at the UCLA Health Training Center, presumably to introduce Redick as the franchise’s next head coach.
Where to watch JJ Redick’s Lakers introductory press conference
JJ Redick’s press conference will be broadcasted live on the Lakers’ YouTube page as well as Spectrum SportsNet and Spectrum News 1, which is available on channel 1 and on the Spectrum News App.
There should be a ton of questions for Redick as well as Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who has not spoken to the media for months.
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