Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick will coach against many of his former teammates throughout his first season in the role.
The time between JJ Redick’s retirement and accepting the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Lakers was thin. However, he had a stint in sports media as one of the best pundits and analysts in all of American sports.
Redick essentially had a public interview to become an NBA head coach. He did spread legitimate basketball to all of ESPN’s viewers during his time with the program. Having retired over three years ago, plenty of his former teammates are still in the league, too.
Throughout the entirety of his first season as an NBA head coach, Redick will be squaring off against plenty of his former teammates and opponents from his days as a player.
Toward the end of his career, Redick spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks — though his final stint was rather brief. Pelicans forward Trey Murphy took to “The Young Man And The Three” — Redick’s former podcast rebranded — to talk about playing against Redick, who will be coaching against them.
“Like, JJ is like a friend of mine, and he’s a head coach, game-planning,” Murphy explained. “It’s weird, like, seeing him on the sideline. I want to crack a joke, but it’s like, I’m supposed to hate you right now. I’m not supposed to like you. I think that’s what I’m more excited about — not getting buckets on the Lakers, but getting buckets on JJ’s scheme.”
For Redick, he’s done podcast episodes and built strong connections with many players currently in the NBA, and his transition to the head coach has forced him into sports media retirement, and those that are friends with the former sharpshooter and Lakers head coach get to transition with him.
Los Angeles, being as powerful of a brand as they are in the NBA, played on opening night, hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. The spotlight was on LeBron James and his son, Bronny, as they made history as the first father-son duo to share the court in league history.
Amid the chaos of the Jameses making history, Redick made his official head coaching debut in the NBA, picking up a win on opening night. It had to be refreshing for Lakers fans to see a strong scheme come together with data and analytics backing up the eye test.
It’s only been a one-game sample size, but there is certainly reason for optimism among Lakers fans as Redick projects to be a solid head coach in the NBA.
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