National Basketball Association

Would Lakers hiring JJ Redick as head coach be a 'blind leap?'

Updated May. 31, 2024 7:40 p.m. ET

JJ Redick has been the most consistent name linked to the Los Angeles Lakers' vacant head-coaching position, to the point where a marriage seems inevitable.

A former 15-year NBA player, Redick has been a broadcaster/commentator for ESPN over the past three years, while recently co-hosting a basketball podcast with Lakers superstar LeBron James. Redick does not have any NBA coaching experience.

On the latest edition of "All Facts No Brakes," guest Rachel Nichols opined to host Keyshawn Johnson why the Lakers hiring Redick would be a frightening unknown.

"With JJ, when you do make that choice, it is a blind leap," Nichols said about the Lakers potentially hiring Redick. "It is like walking into a pit blindfolded. Could be clouds of cotton candy. Could be happiness and light, and you're right about every instinct you have. This is the next Steve Kerr, X, Y, Z. It's worked out great. You could jump into that pit, and it's a bunch of piranhas. There's literally no way to know. There's no way for us to make an evaluation of what kind of coach JJ would be because there is zero information, and there's no way really for the Lakers to make an evaluation. We know he's a great X and O mind. His ATOs are going to be great. We know that he's young and relates to other players well, but that's it. That's all we know.

"What kind of coach he's going to be? What kind of manager he's going to be? What kind of rotations he's going to have? How he manages guys in the locker room? How he manages assistant coaches and scouting? We don't know any of that."

The Lakers fired head coach Darvin Ham after two seasons and a 47-35 record this past year. Their season ended after losing in five games to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs — marking the second consecutive season that the Lakers were knocked out of the playoffs by the Nuggets.

Whoever the Lakers ultimately hire will become the franchise's eighth head coach since Hall of Famer Phil Jackson retired following the 2010-11 NBA season.

As for this offseason, the Lakers are well over the NBA salary cap, and James has a player option for the 2024-25 season. That said, they have the No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, as the New Orleans Pelicans are deferring taking the Lakers' first-round selection to next season, a luxury they had as a result of a 2019 trade that sent Anthony Davis to Los Angeles, ESPN reported on Friday.

On the trade front, Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell, Atlanta Hawks guards Trae Young and Dejounte Murray and Pelicans and former Lakers forward Brandon Ingram have been among the noteworthy players mentioned in preliminary rumors.

Should the Lakers swing a blockbuster trade for a third All-Star caliber player?

"If they can't get the right guy [star player], I think they are much smarter getting better role players than taking a flier on a big name just because he's a big name," Nichols said about the Lakers. "We saw that with the Knicks for years. They did it the wrong way, and now they're doing it the right way; you want to see the Lakers do that, too."

Coming off an appearance in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2023, the Knicks kept the bulk of their roster intact, with the lone major rotation switch coming when they traded Obi Toppin to the Indiana Pacers and signed Donte DiVincenzo — who averaged a career-high 15.5 points per game this season. New York reached the second round of the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

James, 39, is coming off his 21st NBA season, which saw him average 25.7 points, 8.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 54.0/41.0/75.0.

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