JJ Redick, 40, knows basketball well. He was a shooting guard for six different NBA teams over 15 years, most of them with the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Clippers. He said goodbye to the court in 2021 with the Dallas Mavericks jersey. From there, he became an analyst and commentator for ESPN. He threw a podcast with LeBron James last March, Mind the game. However, he has never worked as a coach, beyond his children’s school teams. Despite this, the Los Angeles Lakers have given him the bench. Although the signing had been known for days, the official announcement and presentation of it came this Monday. A rookie as a coach will lead one of the teams with the greatest history in American and, in addition, world basketball.
Redick replaces Darvin Ham, who was fired on May 3 despite leading the Lakers to two seasons with more wins than losses, to the 2023 Western Conference finals and a victory in the first NBA Cup. the new tournament at the beginning of the season. The chosen one was not the first option of the Lakers managers. They reached an agreement with him last week, about two weeks after University of Connecticut coach Dan Hurley rejected a juicy offer to make the jump to the NBA from the Huskies, two-time national college champions.
He doesn’t care too much about having been the second option. “At no time have my ego or feelings been hurt or harmed in any way,” Redick said. “Dan Hurley is a two-time national champion at UConn. I am a two-time 55 Swish League champion in the third and fourth grade division. I understood it,” he added.
Redick has assured that the offer came to him without help or advice from LeBron James, the great star of the Lakers in the twilight of his career, who must decide this week if he exercises his player option to remain on the team next season or if He becomes a free agent, available to whoever wants to sign him. One of LeBron’s dreams is to play on the same team as his son, eligible in the draft This week. The new coach hopes to have the veteran, only six months younger than him. Of course, both will stop recording new chapters of their podcast, where he has shown the knowledge of the game that has opened the doors of the Lakers.
The announcement of his appointment was his birthday gift, celebrated this June 24. “I don’t have any experience as a coach in the NBA,” Reddick acknowledged at the presentation press conference. broadcast on social networks for the Lakers. “But I would say I have a lot of experience. And it started 22 years ago when I went to Duke and got to play for Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski, Duke coach) for four years, spent 15 years as a player. Honestly, the last three years have been very valuable in preparing me for this moment,” he added.
Redick becomes the 29th head coach in franchise history and the 25th of the Los Angeles era, as the team was previously located in Minnesota. In the statement announcing his appointment, In the absence of merits as a coach, those he had on the field stand out. He played in the NBA from 2006 to 2021 for the Dallas, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Clippers, Milwaukee and Orlando teams. He stood out as a shooter, but without a great scoring average. He averaged 12.8 points in 940 regular season games. Redick shot 41.5% from distance and his 1,950 three-pointers made still rank 20th in NBA history.
“I am incredibly honored to join the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic and successful sports franchises in the world,” Redick said in the statement. “This opportunity for me is all service to the players, the team and the organization. I want to express my utmost gratitude to Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka and the entire Lakers management team. My goal will be to deliver championship basketball to Lakers fans around the world, building on the tremendous history and legacy of the Lakers. I am excited to surround myself with a veteran and innovative team as we work tirelessly to develop individual players and maximize the team’s potential. “My family and I could not be more ecstatic about this new chapter in our lives and look forward to immersing ourselves in the vibrant community of Los Angeles,” he added.
“This process has been surreal, to say the least,” Redick said at the press conference. “I take this responsibility very seriously. The Lakers have some of the most passionate fans in the world, and the expectation is a championship, so it’s my job to deliver a championship-caliber team. That’s what I signed for,” he added. The new coach has the challenge of achieving as a coach what he did not achieve as a coach.
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