The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of arguably their roughest stretch schedule-wise of the season. With games against the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, JJ Redick’s team will have completed six games in eight days with three straight back-to-backs.
Injuries have made things even more difficult for the Lakers, who are in a battle for playoff positioning as the regular season winds down. These schedule stretches also greatly limit the ability of the team to get in practices, but regardless, Redick is tired of hearing complaints about it.
Forward Dorian Finney-Smith recently revealed that Redick had told the team to stop complaining about the schedule and prior to their victory over the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers coach confirmed that to be true as no one will feel sorry for his team.
“Yeah, it was a couple weeks ago in film at the facility,” Redick said of when he spoke to the Lakers on it. “I was just talking to CP [Chris Paul] in the hallway about a half an hour again and he was like ‘Man, the schedule sucks.’ Talking about the Spurs schedule. It just feels like this time of year, we’re packing in a ton of games. The NFL is over and so for a team like us, they’re fitting us in all of the national TV slots now, which creates a back-to-back in Milwaukee-Denver.
“Back-to-backs, it’s just part of the NBA. Every team goes through it at different points. So no one is gonna feel sorry for us and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. You gotta play the game in front of you and then move on to the next thing and try to get better. I think as we start getting everybody back, they will be a lot of tough parts of the schedule still to go, but we knew this two weeks, last week starting with the Boston game through this homestand, was gonna be a huge challenge.”
The Lakers went winless on that four-game road trip that began in Boston, but were without multiple rotation players in each contest, most notably LeBron James. With players coming back, and a return home, the Lakers have since won two straight and will look to continue their winning ways as LeBron and Rui Hachimura near a return.
Redick understands that the remainder of the Lakers schedule still has some tough stretches and they can’t afford to dwell on that, but instead take every game as it comes and continue to rack up wins and, most importantly, get healthy.
Lakers coach JJ Redick addresses Jordan Goodwin contract situation
One player who has been extremely important for the Lakers throughout this recent stretch is Jordan Goodwin, who remains on a two-way contract. However, he is nearing the limit of games played on a two-way deal, creating an issue for the Lakers as he has become a trusted member JJ Redick’s rotation. The Lakers could convert his deal to a standard NBA contract and Redick spoke about the situation.
“It’s very complicated because he’s really earned the trust of the coaching staff,” Redick said after the Lakers’ win over the Spurs. “But this is unfortunately the nature of the two-way contracts and having a full roster. So again, it’s something, similar to Trey (Jemison), we’re just gonna manage. I think with guys being out, we can’t really afford to have him out of the rotation right now and then we’ll see as we get healthy.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
