JJ Redick is one game away from completing his first regular season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers — his first coaching job — and has many things to be proud of. His Lakers won 50 games for the first time since the 2019-20 season and will host a home Game 1 in Los Angeles for the first time since 2012.
Of course, Redick is not going to be satisfied with those accomplishments. He has shown on several occasions this season that he is always going to be in pursuit of the next challenge. And right now, that’s helping guide the Lakers to NBA championship contention, starting with the first round against an opponent that will be determined on Sunday.
On Friday, though, the Lakers helped Redick enjoy the moment by getting ice buckets dumped on him after the win over the Houston Rockets. He used that moment to reflect on some of the ups and downs from the 2024-25 campaign for him and the Lakers.
“I just wanna apologize to Kathy [Montoya],” Redick joked. “Hopefully in the next nine days the $17,000 of damage to the carpet can get fixed. It was about eight ice buckets that were put on me.
“But I think it was just for our group, different versions of this team for the guys that have been here all along, they went through every single peak and valley. I think even this third iteration of this team has gone through a bunch of peaks and valleys.
“I’m just incredibly proud of our team. It’s an accomplishment to win 50 games in the regular season in any year. I think particularly this year, in this Western Conference, it is, and it’s a credit to our players. Each one at different points in time has contributed to winning. They’ve all participated in a winning culture. Our coaching staff, our performance staff, everybody down the line, it’s a great group to be a part of. We want to go win one more game, and we’ll figure out Sunday who we play in the first round.”
Despite this, Redick was not fully ready to reflect on his first season as a head coach, because he knows that so much of the real work begins now.
“Uh, it’s not done,” he said. “And I spent all of three and a half minutes on the flight back from Dallas just thinking about making the playoffs and thinking about the coaching profession. And I think as a coach, you’re obviously judged on regular season wins and losses and your ability to get to the playoffs. But I think the other two things that you’re really judged on are the way you’re able to handle the pressure of the playoffs, the adjustments, the in-game stuff.
“There’s still so much work that we have to do, myself, our staff. And then I think you’re also judged on the culture you create and whether or not your players and everybody in the building like coming to work.”
Redick is not one to bask in the glory of moments while they’re still happening. At the end of the season — whether there is a championship or not — Redick is likely to take some time to reflect on the full campaign and have more succinct answers then.
But for now, the focus is on April 19, the start of the NBA Playoffs.
Austin Reaves believes Lakers can win championship
Lakers guard Austin Reaves believes the Lakers are legitimate contenders and have the ability to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy if they play their cards right.
“As a team, I feel like we can win a championship, to be honest with you,” Reaves said. “And the reason of that is I know that everyone in that locker room believes that and is also bought in to whatever your role is to help us do that. You can go down the line with everybody in there and ask them what their role is and they’ll tell you exactly what it is.
“We’re not unrealistic with each other, and that’s what you have to be to be a good group. You have to be honest with each other, that’s why I give this coaching staff a lot of credit. They come in and they implanted their system and they held guys accountable to whatever they ask them to do and everybody bought in to that.”
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