With their victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Lakers improved their record to 50-26 on the season as head coach JJ Redick reached a couple of milestones.
The win on Tuesday night was Redick’s 100th of his coaching career and in the midst of recognizing Lakers players for their milestones, GM Rob Pelinka made sure Redick was recognized too, even getting recordings of Redick’s sons congratulating him on the accomplishment, via Lakers on X:
A night full of milestones for the squad 🙌 pic.twitter.com/kci7M1QZRD
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 1, 2026
Redick became the 12th Lakers coach to reach 100 wins with the franchise and the first coach since Phil Jackson in 2010 and 2011 to record back-to-back 50-win seasons. Prior to Jackson it was Pat Riley who last led the Lakers to consecutive 50-win seasons, but Redick was quick to dismiss the idea that he should be mentioned alongside those Hall of Famers, choosing instead to heap praise on his players and coaching staff.
“Don’t deserve to be mentioned along with Phil or Pat, any of those guys,” Redick said after the win. “I’ve got a lot left to accomplish, for sure. I think both teams, I’ve had the same staff for the most part both years, I think we are resilient and we are resolved. Part of that is like what I talked about pregame in terms of just not willing to quit on a problem that sometimes seems unsolvable. And then just the resolve of wanting to win all the time. We have competitive guys in our locker room and I got some sickos in the coaching staff.”
Redick would continue with his praise of the rosters and staff he has fielded in his two seasons with the Lakers, believing both squads have been excellent at dealing with unexpected challenges.
“I think for our players, they’ve done a really good job both seasons with a lot of challenges, most of them unforeseen, of just staying the course and not letting go of the rope,” Redick added. “And I think for our staff, an 82-game season is going to present a lot of different challenges and problems and just continuing to work to solve those problems. That’s what it says. It’s hard to win 50 games. I was fortunate, outside of the shortened seasons I was part of, I think 10 of the 12 years I was part of 50-win teams. I know what it looks like to win in the regular season. Our group, this year in particular, I think has just done a good job of weathering all the different challenges.”
While Redick may choose to give credit elsewhere, he undoubtedly deserves praise for the job he has done in his first two seasons. There were a ton of questions when the Lakers hired him as he had no head coaching experience, but he has quickly proven that he was the right choice to lead this franchise.
LeBron James passes another Lakers legend for most career wins
Redick was one of many players to reach a career milestone and arguably the biggest was LeBron James who picked up his 1,229th victory of his career, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most career wins, regular and postseason combined.
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!
