Jeanie Buss has happily allowed the Los Angeles Lakers front office led by president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka to take charge of the basketball side of things in the organization.
Buss is primarily responsible for the business end of the Lakers, so Pelinka has full autonomy to make moves that position the team to compete for a title. The Luka Doncic trade was a no-brainer considering his impact as a player and what it cost to get him, but Pelinka’s done well with some of the other important decisions he’s had to make.
For example, Pelinka may have struck gold with head coach JJ Redick who led Los Angeles to 50 wins and the third seed during the 2024-25 season. While Redick and the Lakers were quickly eliminated in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, there is still a lot of confidence in his future on the sidelines.
While the Redick hiring looks solid now, Buss admitted she was initially nervous about bringing in someone with no previous head coaching experience, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“I was worried about hiring a rookie coach,” Buss said. “This team is so important to this community, and to bring in a rookie coach that had no experience before, that was a big leap. But I knew that [Redick and Pelinka] would work well together, and I love watching the progress that they’re making.”
Buss acknowledged she trusted Pelinka with the Redick hire and it seems like the decision will pay off as Redick got buy-in from the locker room almost immediately. Players like LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Doncic have all praised Redick for the job he’s done so far and there’s reason to believe he’ll be better come the 2025-26 campaign.
The Lakers aren’t necessarily afraid to take risks and this has shown up time and time again in the storied franchise’s history. Redick is the latest in a long line of gambles Los Angeles has made, and so far the returns have been encouraging. However, the real goal is a championship and it’ll be interesting to see if the head coach is able to deliver one to L.A.
JJ Redick calls support from Jeanie Buss during 2024-25 season incredible
JJ Redick didn’t look like a first-time head coach during the regular season as he got the Lakers to play hard nearly every night. Redick didn’t do it alone though and thanked Jeanie Buss for her incredible support throughout the year.
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