JUNE 24: The Lakers have issued a press release officially confirming that they’ve hired Redick as their head coach.
“J.J. is a fierce competitor and has an extraordinary basketball IQ and understanding of the modern game that will energize players and excite fans,” Pelinka said as part of a larger statement. “His rigorous analysis will immediately unlock new opportunities for our roster while setting a foundation for player development over the long term. He brings an intense dedication to innovation, advancing the game, and staying at the forefront of an ever-evolving league.
“Beyond his basketball acumen, J.J. has a care for people and genuine empathy that are critical for connecting with players today. This is an exciting time for Lakers basketball.””
JUNE 20: The Lakers are hiring J.J. Redick to be their new head coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that Redick will receive a four-year deal.
According to Woj, head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka believes in Redick’s “basketball IQ” and his “ability to connect with players.” Pelinka also thinks surrounding Redick with an experienced staff “will help to shorten the learning curve” for the first-time head coach. Redick has already begun to assemble a staff, Woj adds.
Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times confirms that Redick has made a verbal commitment to the Lakers (Twitter link). Redick will receive about $8MM per season on his four-year contract, sources tell Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Multiple league sources tell Brian Robb of MassLive.com that Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell is a name to watch for an assistant job on Redick’s staff, which echoes a previous report from Marc Stein. Cassell was among the candidates who interviewed for the Lakers’ job.
A former NBA sharpshooter who played 15 seasons in the league from 2006-2021, Redick has connections to the Los Angeles area, having played four seasons for the Clippers. The ESPN analyst also co-hosts a podcast with LeBron James. While James reportedly took a hands-off approach in the search, Redick’s preexisting relationship with the superstar forward surely didn’t hurt his candidacy.
Redick, who turns 40 years old next week, was long viewed as the frontrunner for the Lakers’ head coaching job after they fired Darvin Ham last month following a first-round playoff exit. However, Redick didn’t formally interview for the position until last weekend and wasn’t offered the job until this morning, per Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski previously reported that the Lakers offered a six-year, $70MM contract to UConn’s Dan Hurley, who has won back-to-back NCAA titles with the Huskies. Hurley ultimately declined the offer and is reportedly nearing a long-term deal to stay in Storrs.
Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego was viewed as the other main candidate in the Lakers’ search. Borrego is reportedly a finalist in the Cavs’ coaching search, with recent reports pegging him as the frontrunner for the job.
As our tracker shows, several other names emerged in the Lakers’ search, but it’s unclear how seriously some of them were considered.
Now that the team’s coaching search is over, the Lakers will turn to the draft, trade market and free agency to improve their roster entering 2024/25. Their most noteworthy potential free agent is James, who holds a $51.4MM player option for next season.
This is going to be fun to watch.
If by watching a car wreck is your version of “fun” then I agree 100%
NBA head coach is my dream job. Get hired to a multi million dollar deal, get fired, count my money.
You’re now more qualified then ever now that Reddick can be a NBA HC! We all are!
Sure, except for the small fact it’s likely none of us played collegiate or professional basketball. Other than that we all know as much as JJ does about basketball…
LOLakers
Lebron is their coach.
I must laugh when laker fans say that Lebron had nothing to do with JJ being picked. LeBron picked JJ so now if they don’t win its entirely on LeBron.
What I really like about Redick is that he has championship expectation next season.
Couldn’t have said it any better. I give him 1.5 years before he gets canned
Oops. Meant this as a reply to @steven st croix’s comment
Works great as a standalone comment, too. What a joke hire.
Harsh. Make it 2 years.
lmfao
LMAO
This was always the cheapest option for the Lakers…. Everything else in between including Hurley chaos was all nothing but a show.
This is not a front office that is serious about winning. You fire a championship winning coach and replace him with Darvin Ham? Then JJ Redick? LOL
I think you mean championship winning***… you forgot all the asterisks. Outside of LA, that wasn’t a championship.
Your opinion to that effect is not shared by the players and coaches, who have forgotten more about basketball that most will ever know.
Los Angeles Lakers gave J.J. Redick 4 years $32 million!!!! It’s a great hire and he’s going to do great!!!! I think he’s going to get Scott Brooks Jared Dudley and Rajon Rondo on his staff.
LMFAO if by great you mean getting bought out in the near future you’d be 100% correct. Man lakers stink, what a mess this ball club has become.
Pelinka playing high level chess here. Goes after Hurley knowing they will low ball him and he won’t take the job. Then hires the guy he wanted to all along because he’s the cheapest option. Then if it works he looks like a genius and if it doesn’t he gets to tell the gullible Bus family that he tried to get Hurley but lebron wanted Reddick so what was he supposed to do. Job security regardless of the outcome. He just stays pulling those Kobe heartstrings.
This Bus family you speak of…School? Metro? Magic? Blunder?
Yes thank you for pointing out auto correct got me. Very scintillating addition to the conversation thank you.
What do you expect? There is no counter to your arguement so the insults fly…
If Redick succeeds, it’ll change the coaching position forever. It would prove that zero previous coaching experience and zero leadership/management experience of any kind is required.
You can bet the entire existing coaching profession hopes he fails.
Steve Nash kind of broke that barrier. I’m sure there’s been others before who’ve been hired as HC with no real coaching experience
Bill Russell had no coaching experience. He won as player coach ….
Doc Rivers already did that. Hired in 2000 as HC of the Orlando Magic with no prior coaching experience, only three years after he’d retired as a player. Pretty sure he’s not the only one either.
Not to say that you’re wrong, but it’s not as drastic as first presented.
Didn’t Jason Kidd as well? Also, Steve Nash.
Nash was part of the Warriors FO during their dynasty, so he at least had *some* experience. Kidd did go straight from playing to coaching. Literally retired and then was HC of the Nets the next year. I had forgotten that entirely.
Nash and Kidd has a rare credential as players that Redick does not: they were true PG’S with 15+ years of, effectively, “being a coach on the floor”. These players are proven team leaders and mentors.
Redick is a smart guy, but he’s not that.
Steve Nash failed badly and Jason Kidd is on this 3rd head coaching gig along with being an assistant before having real success
Kerr spent some time in the Spurs front office and as an analyst but never coached in any capacity before taking the reigns in Golden State, he seems to have worked out OK.
That warriors squad was a little different.
Kerr didn’t just “spend some time in the Phoenux front office”, he was the GM for three years. That means he had proven his leadership capabilities in a basketball organization.
Lots of former players became coaches. Reddick isn’t a trailblazer.
Podcasting will be an important plus for future coaching hires as well.
So the podcast empire is paused? Or does he continue to do some of the podcasts as well as coach??
Don’t get me wrong – I like JJ. But he’s doomed to fail; this is not a good job at all, let alone for a first time coach. When the Lakers don’t win – and they won’t, you can count on that – he’ll be the fall-guy and get fired, and then his prospects for suture coaching become limited. I appreciate that he recognizes and welcomes the challenge, but this won’t end well. I give it a year and a half, tops.
LOL… the podcast 2 years from now should be great…. JJ: Hey Lebron, why did they fire me? LeBron: You didn’t play my kid enough…. The Lakers are an absolute clown show now. Get your popcorn ready…. The Western conference is going to eat this team up. If you are a true fan of the Lakers, you can’t possibly be happy with this selection. And if you have to assemble a strong coaching staff to help the inexperienced head coach, you already have one foot in the grave. Bad bad bad….. Nothing against JJ as I think he has a good basketball mind. But he really should have sought out a solid NCAA job for two – three years to set him up better for success in the NBA. The contract salary will be interesting….
I foresee JJ and LeBron podcasts 15 min after every Lakers game.
Ladies and gentlemen the next escape goat, for the Drama Queen
LOL this is awesome. Wasn’t Becky Hammond available. Bron getting his guy paid. Absolute dumpster fire, can’t wait.
That would be the worst possible landing spot for her as a first time HC, even worse than it will be for Redick. When her time does come, I hope it’s with the Spurs or another sane, less media crazed organization.
But to actually answer your question, she’s having a ton of success right now in her dual role as HC/GM for the Aces in the WNBA (back-to-back championships) so she’s likely content at the moment.
Sarcasm my man…just pointing out a woman has more qualifications than JJ for a head coach role in the association. I’m sure she is happy, good for her.
Luke Walton 2.0
LaBum continues to bend the lakers over and run them into the ground. He got his coach now he will get them to draft little LaBum at 17 and screw the lakers for a couple more years. FfS…sell the team to someone who doesnt have thier head up LaBums rearend. Dr. Buss is rolling in his grave at the laughing stock the lakers have become.
Bron is the problem. Hire my buddy, draft my son, give me the Max….hasn’t been a top ten guy for years, problem. Careful though, some LBJ minions on here ready for action, defending the LeBron cult with their lives. Man the lakers stink LOL. Does Bron have a POV pic of Jeannie bent over getting thunder clapped?
He clearly has some kinda dirt on ber. I cant wait for this clown to retire. I can honestly say this was the last year in over 30 yrs i didnt watch a single laker game.
I watched a lot, was enjoyable lol.
LeBron is the Lakers worst signing ever. Has completely ruined the franchise.
Reddick is a perfect fit on Lebrons Lakers. Just like LBJ, you either love Reddick or you hate him. Not much in between.
Another LeBron butt kisser. This will go well.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
I actually think, given time, this has the potential to work. Reddick knows the game. Now the issue is going to be, will he get that time? He is going to have to learn to coach on the job, and no matter how many experienced assistants you surround him with, that is going to take time.
If the Lakers are expecting to be championship contenders out of the gate with JJ at the helm, he’ll be fired quickly. Give this two years though, and it’s maybe not as crazy as it looks.
I don’t see it lasting that long… But JJ would be a better coach for a post LeBron retirement Lakers team than the current team…
Expectations with LeBron there will just be too high… Pelinka needed an easy fall guy…
Have to agree. For as bad as this hiring may look re: LeBron and as a first-time hire for a win-now team, there is still the chance it ultimately works out. Maybe Redick really was a strong candidate or maybe he wasn’t. The truth is none of us knows what will happen. But I can certainly understand being highly skeptical of the move given the factors in play. Don’t expect much, but you never know.
So in likelihood, Sam Cassell will be the HC in Los Angeles for the ’25-’26 season…???
Cassell got ignored again. Sad.
I’m glad it’s only 4 years, but that still seems too long. These coaching contracts are going in the wrong direction. These guys are getting hired for 4-6 years and getting fired after maximum 2 seasons. Whether it’s a terrible fit or impatient owners, that’s where things are now. The market also dictates the contracts, but it would be great to sign a coach to a 2 year contract with an optional 3rd year. Then either cut bait or talk about a raise/extension.
So, next offseason, JJ gets 24M to go back full-time to his podcasts.
Good to see LeDork got his man. Let the circus continue.
To me that just looks like Pelinka wanted an easy fall guy and placate LeBron at the same time…
The Lakers can pretend to contend for their fans… But they ain’t contending without some major roster changes…
This comment section is so delusional. Bashing JJ who we’ve never seen coach before is so funny to me. I don’t remember this kind of outrage when Nash got hired to run the Nets. Maybe if he had a successful media career he would’ve gotten more hate. There has never been more sheep commenting on this site than there is right now. Sad to see
Argh, what? Loads of people ragged on the Nash hire. A former MVP I believe. Facts are this team stinks, and Lombardi, Jackson, Belichick, and Pop morphed into one person couldn’t control the ego known as the self-confessed GOAT. Is the highest paid babysitting gig in the world, though, so congratulations, JJ. Pelinka, Jeannie, Bron, JJ, possibly adding the gun tooting woman abusing Rajon into the mix is a perfect blend of dysfunctional misfits… YAY, go lake show. Man, Lakers stink…..LETS GO CELTICS LOL.
You are the biggest Lebron fan on this site just so you know
So I guess $8MM per season is the floor for head coaches now? Seems pretty steep, especially at four years. But that’s the Lakers for you, betting against themselves for no discernable reason.
The number of people making this solely about LeBron because he lives in their heads rent-free is hilarious, js. It’s more likely Pelinka trying to play 4D chess with 2D perception and the dysfunctional Buss family doing what they always do.
It has a lot to do with Lebron. If you think LeBron had nothing to do with JJ being picked you are disillusioned. Lebron runs the team right now. You don’t pick a new coach with no experience unless somebody is pressuring you to pick him.
Jordan lives rent free in LeBron’s head
Yup yup and yup
Liked the 4d to 2 d analogy!
Why would Sam Cassell want to join that circus as an assistant, when he already has that same position, for the World Champion Boston Celtics?
Windhorst calls Redick high risk high reward when he is actually high risk uncertain reward.
8 Million with zero experience. That must be nice.
A lot will depend on his staff – Get SVG and Brooks + Rondo you got some good baseline help
I think the hidden downside (amongst many others) is if it does go south I see Jj spurning his media boys vs the franchise for decades afterwards.
JJ is probably a borderline narcissistic to some large degree as is, while thats not always a burden (in some cases a boon ) if it sours, it really sours bad – Given his national pull that means ugliness for the franchise in many future forms
Just give JJ some pom-poms & have him hang with the Lakers Girls cuz we all know who the real head coach is
I don’t knowIf they’ll win a chip but I think this hiring can be very successful. Finally LBJ has a coach he respects intellectually. Nothing wrong with a coach and collaborating with hood soon to be retiring all time great. As long as LBJ can get the rest of the team onboard this can be really good.
The Los Angeles Carnival Show. Hire Doris Burke and Ronald McDonald to be JJ’s assistants. Mark my words, the Lakers will NOT make the playoffs in 2024-25.