JJ Redick and LeBron James (Image Source: GettyImages)
With every member from the previous season gone, the Lakers are progressing with their new coaching staff. After hiring JJ Redick as head coach, the Los Angeles-based team reportedly hired Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks as assistant coaches.
New Lakers’ HC Redick says that this is a great beginning for expanding this coaching tree. There is still more work to be done, including appointing a Director of Player Development.
Redick’s coaching abilities remain one of the most significant uncertainties surrounding the 2024-25 Lakers. Recently, Gallagher talked about something that could be very interesting for the Los Angeles Lakers. On an episode of the famous show “Jenkins And Jones,” he discussed.
According to him, the most significant traits that might foster a successful partnership with the Lakers and LeBron James are JJ Redick’s ability to control a setting and his readiness to engage in the game.
“LeBron’s a really good orator, and that’s something I wasn’t expecting. I was pleasantly surprised because I know JJ, I’ve been working with him forever. He is as prepared as anyone I’ve ever met. If he is going to interview the Burger King mascot, he will have a thing of notes that are just like everything about that person, everything he does.”
“Going into that first episode, he had a stack of notes, and I was like, “Oh wow, I’d be curious to see how LeBron—” and of course LeBron just sits down with no prep and says, “Let’s go. I’m going.” That was the coolest thing to see, the enthusiasm. He loves to talk about this stuff. I think it’s going to be good. For JJ to be able to command a room that LeBron is in, that trait in itself is why I have a lot of confidence.” (4:50)
KG thinks Lakers’ JJ Redick hire prevented LeBron James from leaving
LeBron James will play his 22nd season with the Lakers, and he expects to play with his son Bronny. Bron’s signing an agreement with the Lakers wasn’t a surprise despite rumors of him leaving. Kevin Garnett believes the Lakers used a secret method to keep James staying.
“I think a hire like that seems to me more of a popular or inside, you know what I’m saying? This feels like a leveraging piece in being able to keep LeBron, you know what I’m saying? It’d be hard for Bron to come in here and ask for JJ Redick and then you walk out the door. So I see a couple games being played here and I’m just observing, I’m just observing right,” Kevin Garnett remarked on a special KG Certified/Knuckleheads Podcasts edition.
After some early uncertainty about LeBron James’s free agency pursuits, he eventually announced a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
