LeBron James has watched the Lakers miss on all their free agent targets this summer, including first-choice Lakers head coach candidate Dan Hurley, who turned the team down to stay with the UConn Huskies. Their replacement hire ended up being JJ Redick, the player-turned-analyst with zero head coaching experience. LeBron James has shared his true feelings on the hire while with Team USA at training camp.
“I’m super excited to work with JJ and looking forward to the fall. We’re coming in with a new system. We have to learn the system and see what Coach Redick and the rest of the coaching staff wants us to do. My only mindset is to come back and be ready to work, no matter who is there.”
LeBron and Redick shared a strong personal bond off the court, with James making his debut in the podcast world with Redick as the co-host of the ‘Mind The Game’ podcast. Many have attacked James for using his influence on the Lakers to hire his friend to be his new coach, something that he and the Lakers have repeatedly downplayed.
James brought it up once again while talking about Redick to the Washington Post, discussing the team’s new assistant coach hirings while reiterating his lack of involvement in the Lakers coaching search.
“I’m not involved in the coaching hiring, but I’m excited about JJ. I’m excited about working with coach [Nate] McMillan. I haven’t worked with him since the Olympic run [in 2008]. My first time working with coach [Scott] Brooks, looking forward to that. So I’m excited about that. That’s been the extent of it all this summer as far as the Lakers.”
As long as LeBron respects Redick’s voice and authority as the head coach, the Lakers should be fine. While it is a questionable hire, it is not outside the norm of the NBA. It’s a big bet that Redick lives up to the tactical mind we’ve been seeing on ESPN, with the Lakers equating him to Pat Riley or Steve Kerr.
JJ Redick Claims He And LeBron Never Spoke About The Coaching Vacancy
The hiring of Redick was a long saga, with the new Lakers coach rumored to be taking the position for months before he was officially appointed. With everyone believing LeBron is driving the decision to hire JJ, multiple quotes were shared explaining LeBron isn’t part of the coaching search.
Redick confirmed that James didn’t speak to him about the Lakers until after his appointment was confirmed.
“He didn’t provide any advice. LeBron and I didn’t talk about the Lakers job until Thursday evening, about 30 minutes after I was offered the job. That was very intentional on both our parts.”
The franchise itself has seemed motivated to hire Redick as a whole rather than acting at the behest of LeBron, so this could be a happy situation for James where he didn’t have to meddle.
LeBron wanted the Lakers to hire a coach with Anthony Davis in mind as James gets ready to take a step back. Hopefully, Redick lives up to the hype and helps both stars thrive as the Lakers re-emerge as a contender despite a pretty dull offseason so far.
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