The Los Angeles Lakers' offseason has mostly been one of inactivity. It is certainly telling that the biggest move they made this offseason was hiring JJ Redick to be the team's new head coach, replacing Darvin Ham in the process. The important factor that played into the hiring of Redick is that he seems to have the trust of LeBron James. As one would recall, Redick and James once hosted a podcast that dove deep into the Xs and Os of basketball, and they shared some very natural chemistry on the air.
One would think that Redick and James had spent time together as teammates, but they never got the pleasure of sharing a locker room with each other. Redick's 15 years in the league were spent with the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Dallas Mavericks — teams that James did not ply his trade for.
But there was a time when the Lakers pondered the possibility of bringing Redick in to bolster the team around 2020 or 2021, which would have allowed the two to team up earlier than they did in real life.
“Early in James' L.A. tenure, the Lakers inquired about trading with New Orleans for Redick but nothing developed, sources told ESPN,” Dave McMenamin of ESPN wrote.
It's unclear just how “early” in James' stint with the Lakers did the team inquire about the possibility of a trade for Redick. The Pelicans were a sub-.500 team in the one and a half seasons that Redick spent with the team, so it's likely that the Purple and Gold thought about acquiring one of the greatest shooters in league history during both 2020 and 2021.
Perhaps it's more likely for the Lakers to have thought about acquiring Redick in 2020, when he was still a productive starter for the Pelicans. During 2021, Redick had fallen off, and the Pelicans soon traded him away to the Mavericks for some spare parts.
Regardless, now, the Lakers have Redick helming the bench, and they see him as a clear upgrade over Ham in that department. Only time will tell how smooth the transition to being a head coach of an NBA team will be for Redick.
Can JJ Redick survive the pressure cooker that is the Lakers' head coaching job?
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Being a head coach in the NBA is never easy. The head coach is almost always the easy scapegoat for when a team is struggling, and all the criticisms they receive can take its toll. But there may not be a more difficult gig in the league than being the head coach for the Lakers.
The Lakers job is not for the faint of heart. The spotlight is always on them since they reside in one of the biggest television markets in the United States, and they have perhaps the biggest fanbase in the entire world, so the pressure is always on to deliver results.
Nevertheless, it seems as though JJ Redick has the character and the skill to survive in his position. He also has deep tactical knowledge and the new-school willingness to incorporate analytics, which should help the Lakers polish their weaknesses under Darvin Ham last season.
Of course, the Lakers may need to pull off a trade or two to improve the roster so they could, perhaps, crack the inner circle of title contenders. But Redick appears to be the man for the job of laying down the team's winning foundation.
