When the Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick to become their new head coach, the response was inevitably divided. Redick lacked any discernible coaching experience and was inheriting a team that has lost eight of its past nine playoff games.
Pre-season predictions routinely pegged the Lakers as a team that would be on the outside looking in of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, but Redick has proven skeptics wrong at every turn.
Los Angeles has been no stranger to adversity in 2024-25, but Redick has kept the team focused on the task at hand. Their worst record of the season was 4-4, and since then, they've never allowed .500 to be a realistic possibility.
On Friday, Apr. 11, Redick put the finishing touches on a memorable debut campaign by leading the Lakers to their first 50-win season since 2019-20—thus fulfilling a promise he made to his players.
Los Angeles has now clinched the No. 3 seed and will thus enter the playoffs with home-court advantage in the first round for the first time since 2020.
JJ Redick promised Lakers 50 wins and the No. 3 seed—and delivered
Los Angeles' season has been defined by calculated risks. Rob Pelinka gambled on Redick as head coach, refused to trade Rui Hachimura or Austin Reaves, parted with point guard D'Angelo Russell, and even traded then-franchise player Anthony Davis.
Those decisions have paid off, as Redick has navigated the ship through turbulent waters and guided the Lakers to resounding success.
Hachimura has emerged as a consistent source of energy, as well as a high-level 3-and-D forward who can create second chances. Reaves, meanwhile, is inching closer to All-Star status with a season that's far exceeded the value of his $12,976,362 salary.
Redick has been instrumental to the development of both players, with Reaves coming as far as to average 20.2 points and 5.8 assists per game on .460/.377/.877 shooting.
Nothing speaks more to Redick's success, however, than the fact that he's adapted his system to account for injuries and a massive mid-season roster overhaul. He spent more than half of the season working through Anthony Davis as the hub of the offense, as well as the anchor on defense, only to have to change course in February.
Rather than wilting under the pressure, Redick has managed to rise to the occasion and give the Lakers the structure they needed to overcome that massive structural change.
It certainly doesn't hurt that the Lakers have a superstar duo that can will the team to victory in Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Los Angeles has won and lost as a team, however, and have thus produced the franchise's second 50-win season since 2011.
Redick has facilitated player development, integrated new faces, and built an unlikely defensive juggernaut—and he's only in his first season.
