Shaquille O’Neal on LeBron James’ influence in JJ Redick’s hiring (Image credits: @shaq, @kingjames/Instagram)

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal addressed JJ Redick’s comment regarding LeBron James not being aware of his hiring as the LA Lakers’ head coach. The Lakers named Redick as the franchise’s 29th head coach ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft.

Redick was introduced by general manager Rob Pelinka on Monday after it was confirmed that he would be the new voice of leadership. During his presser, the former Duke superstar mentioned that James didn’t have any involvement or knowledge about his hiring as the team’s head coach.

However, O’Neal doesn’t think that the All-Star forward would allow anything to happen without his knowledge or input. The former Lakers star talked about it in the recent episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq.”

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“Yeah, I’m starting a website called yeahright/*******.com,” Shaq said. “Everything goes through LeBron.

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“I know that for a fact. Because in that position, as leadership, you get to know everything. So, I was in that seat for a long time. Nothing went without my permission. The only time something went down without my permission is when they cut my head and traded me. And then Kobe took over and nothing went down without his permission.”

Shaq is sure that every decision that the Lakers have made since James’ arrival in 2018 was influenced by the star forward. But he gave credit for Redick and his professionalism for saying that LeBron had nothing to do with his hiring.

Shaquille O’Neal wishes Sam Cassell could get head coaching chance following Redick’s hiring

It’s a fact to most NBA fans that Redick has no coaching experience in the NBA or even in other leagues, other than coaching 4th graders. But the Lakers are so confident in him that they still gave him the head coaching job.

But Shaquille O’Neal took the chance to express his thoughts on the former player’s hiring over Sam Cassell, who’s been an assistant coach in the league since 2009. That includes helping the Boston Celtics win the championship this season.

“It makes it look crazy that a guy with no experience can overshadow a guy like Sam Cassell, who’s been in the league 15 years. No disrespect to JJ, but I think Sam should also get the same looks.”

O’Neal talked about Cassell at the 11:06 mark.

Players have raved about Cassell in the past but hasn’t gotten a chance to lead his team.