The Los Angeles Lakers made it official as they named former ESPN basketball analyst and podcaster JJ Redick their new head coach. Redick starred at Duke and had a 15-year NBA career, but has no real basketball coaching experience.
Redick was moved up to the No. 1 NBA broadcast team on ESPN and ABC with Mike Breen and Doris Burke. This was after Doc Rivers had taken the position but then left to become the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. In addition to working the games, Redick was doing a couple of podcasts. One of those, Mind the Game, was co-hosted by LeBron James whose relationship with Redick couldn’t have hurt his chances in getting the position. Regardless, Redick’s podcasting days are over for now.
“For the time being, and hopefully it’s a very, very long time, I am excommunicated from the content space so there will be no podcasts,” Redick said in response to a question at his opening press conference. “We’ll do something when I have a breather from what we have coming up. I am going to be drinking out of a fire hose for the next month but at some point, we’ll just do something for all the people that listened and have a small little video. But I’m done with podcasting for now.”
The 40-year-old Redick said in a release, “I am incredibly humbled to join the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic and successful sports franchises in the world. This opportunity for me is all about service to the players, team and organization. I want to express my utmost appreciation to Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka and the entire Lakers front office. My goal will focus on delivering championship-caliber basketball for Lakers fans everywhere, building on the tremendous history and legacy of the Lakers. I am excited to surround myself with a veteran, innovative staff as we work relentlessly to develop individual players and maximize the team’s potential. My family and I couldn’t be more ecstatic for this new chapter in our lives and look forward to immersing ourselves in the vibrant Los Angeles community.”
