The Los Angeles Lakers’ head coaching search has finally come to an end as they formally introduced JJ Redick as their next head coach.
Los Angeles targeted Redick early on in their process and the two sides finally agreed to a reported four-year deal. Now, Redick gets the rare opportunity to lead the Lakers franchise as well as coach LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Throughout the saga, James kept his distance from Los Angeles as they sorted out options like Dan Hurley and Redick. While it’s hard to believe that James wouldn’t be consulted on such a huge decision, his agent Rich Paul also confirmed that the superstar wasn’t involved in any decisions and allowed the franchise to make the call on their own.
Although James and Redick co-hosted the “Mind the Game” podcast together, the latter revealed that the two didn’t speak about the job until after the dust had settled.
“He didn’t provide any advice,” Redick said. “LeBron and I did not talk about the Lakers job until Thursday afternoon about 30 minutes after I was offered the job.
“And that was very intentional on both our parts. I knew, I had an understanding that he did not want to be involved in this and for me I didn’t want to go down the path of hypotheticals with someone that I consider a friend and someone that I have a great amount of respect for. For us it just came down to literally Thursday afternoon and I talked to him for about 15-20 minutes and got off the phone. That was it.”
It sounds like both James and Redick wanted to let things play out before they discussed what a possible partnership would look like, but in the end the two will be reunited through this time in the locker room and on the hardwood. During their podcast episodes, the two shared similar beliefs and philosophies on the game of basketball which bodes well for Los Angeles heading into the 2024-25 season.
Although Redick’s lack of coaching experience will continue to be used against him, getting a star’s buy in is arguably more important and for now it seems like James will be all-in on what Redick wants to do as head coach.
JJ Redick’s expectations are to win championships with Lakers
Even though JJ Redick is going into this new situation with tons of pressure, his expectations are still to win championships with the Lakers.
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