The Los Angeles Clippers have gotten off to a miserable start to this 2025-26 season, and former NBA player DeMarcus Cousins thinks head coach Tyronn Lue needs to change his ways. Cousins stated on FanDuel TV’s Run it Back that Lue needs to adopt Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s approach to get the Clippers back on track.
“I also played for Ty Lue,” Cousins said. “And it would be games where we come in, where we played like complete crap, and it’s, ‘Alright, see y’all tomorrow.’ It’s no urgency. And we look at how these Clippers teams has played out, and it’s getting worse and worse by the year.
“And I love Ty Lue,” Cousins continued. “I think he’s an incredible X and O guy, but sometimes that laid back approach carries over into the team, and then you have a laid back team… It’s clutch moments in the game, they’re still laid back because that’s the identity you’ve created.
“That’s the standard you created for your team,” Cousins added. “So, when you got a fiery coach like JJ, ‘I don’t like this. We play like crap. I knew in the first two minutes we weren’t ready to play.’… That’s their identity this season… [The Clippers] need JJ Redick’s approach right now.”
Redick is quite the fiery character and holds his players accountable. He doesn’t shy away from blasting them if need be, as he did during a game against the Miami Heat on Nov. 2. A few days later, on Nov. 8, Redick ripped the Lakers’ effort in their 122-102 loss to the short-handed Atlanta Hawks. Whatever you may think of his methods, they certainly aren’t hurting the team.
The Lakers are currently fourth in the West with an impressive 11-4 record. As for the Clippers, they’re down at 11th with a 4-10 record. While one could try to point to injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Bradley Beal as a reason for their lack of success, it’s not as if the Lakers have been injury-free.
LeBron James only made his season debut in the Lakers’ latest outing against the Utah Jazz, while Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have missed multiple games as well. Redick has done a tremendous job coaching this team and deserves all the praise he has been getting.
Lue, meanwhile, is starting to get a whole lot of criticism from Clippers fans. Now, the 48-year-old has had a fair bit of success over the years and has been regarded as one of the best coaches in the NBA for quite some time.
Lue famously led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA championship in 2016. He then took the Clippers to the Western Conference Finals for the first and only time in franchise history in 2021. You start to wonder, though, if a different voice is needed in that locker room now.
Cousins played under Lue on the Clippers in 2021 and believes he needs to change his ways. It’s not often that we see a coach do that, though, especially when they have had success in the past.
If the Clippers, who have lost eight of their last nine games, keep struggling, then team owner Steve Ballmer might have a difficult decision to make. They are in action next against the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center on Thursday at 7 PM ET.
