The Los Angeles Lakers have had an interesting coaching search, to say the least. What started as JJ Redick and James Borrego being considered the top candidates became an expectation of Redick getting the job, only for a sudden sharp turn to an all-out pursuit of UConn head coach Dan Hurley. When Hurley turned down the Lakers offer of 6 years, $70 million, L.A. was forced to reset back to their original list, but with the public knowing they were shifting to Plan B — along with some questions about exactly what all went down with the Hurley pursuit.
The expectation is that they will now return to Redick as their leading candidate, and the ESPN commentator will reportedly formally interview with Jeanie Buss and the Lakers front office over the weekend. To this point, the Lakers have been spending their time doing their due diligence on Redick (with his former coach, Mike Krzyzewski, serving as an advisor int he search). However, as Brian Windhorst explained on Get Up! Thursday morning, Redick’s “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James has, effectively, been part of the interview process.
Brian Windhorst on JJ Redick interviewing with the Lakers: "Frankly, his interviews have been in those podcasts with LeBron James. They've extensively broken down the Lakers' offense, extensively broken down what they do. It's been out there for the whole world to hear, including… pic.twitter.com/MTJb21htLl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 13, 2024
LeBron may genuinely be staying away from this coaching search, and it’d make sense for the Lakers to be thinking much longer term than James’ tenure. That said, if Redick lands the job, having a podcast where he and LeBron talk X’s and O’s, with the Lakers as a frequent example, will play a major role. It has, if nothing else, given him a proving ground to show his knowledge and offer his plan for using the Lakers roster, and as Windy notes, the Lakers brass are part of the audience taking it in.
