Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick is entering his second season at the helm, and he has just one goal in mind: winning a championship. Redick spoke to the media on the first day of training camp, where he shared the Lakers’ priorities for the 2025-26 season.
“We have three priorities this year and three priorities only,” Redick said. “And that’s championship habits, championship communication, and championship shape. There’s no shortcuts to this. There’s no shortcuts to success. There’s no shortcuts to having a good season, great season, whatever.
“The league is too good,” Redick added. “There’s too much talent out there. There’s too much balance. You have to be committed on a daily basis to those things.”
There are indeed no shortcuts. You have to give it your all to get to the top, and that’s where Redick wants to be.
Redick had a positive rookie season as head coach, but it didn’t end the way he’d have wanted. He led the Lakers to an impressive 50-32 record in 2024-25, which got them the third seed in the West. They entered the playoffs with momentum by their side, but lost in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.
Redick came under fire for some of his decision-making against the Timberwolves. The 41-year-old infamously chose to play five players the entire second half of Game 4, and it didn’t work out. The players just ran out of steam towards the end, and the loss all but ensured the Lakers were going home early.
The Lakers’ top brass didn’t lose faith in Redick despite the early exit. He was given a two-year extension this offseason, even though he had three years left on his deal. The Lakers believe they have the right man for the job, and he’ll be keen to prove them right.
Ensuring those priorities are met would be key to that. One of the things that Redick has put an emphasis on is that his team needs to get into offense early, and he thinks that is tied to the priorities.
“I really believe that all three of our priorities tie in together,” Redick stated. “And in terms of the early offense, you certainly have to be in shape, there has to be communication, our habits, part of that is execution, and I think it’s execution of spacing. It’s execution of knowing what we’re trying to get on a possession, and you have to be in shape to sort of recognize all those things in real time.
“So, it’s all tied together,” Redick continued. “And I thought with our script, and we did a modified three-on-three game, I thought the emphasis was there. The guys did a really good job. They understood what we were trying to accomplish. They understood the purpose of everything we were doing today in script and in three-on-three, and then that translated to five-on-five.”
With LeBron James and Luka Doncic leading the way, the Lakers have the potential to be the best offense in the NBA in 2025-26. They have one of the best third options in the NBA, too, in Austin Reaves, and Redick needs to get the very best out of this group. There are some other adjustments he can make apart from the early offense, and it will be fascinating to see how different this team looks compared to last season.
