While there have been a number of candidates interviewed for the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job, two names have seemed to be at the forefront of the conversation in JJ Redick and James Borrego. But even amongst those two, it is Redick who has felt like the favorite from the beginning.
Despite having no prior head coaching experience, Redick’s potential has stood out to the Lakers, who are looking for someone who can not only lead this team in its current iteration, but for years to come. And according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania in an appearance on Run It Back on FanDuel TV, the franchise feels Redick can be that person on the bench for many years to come:
“Sources tell me the Lakers are zeroing in on JJ Redick as the front-runner for their head coaching job. Obviously this has been a search that started in early May when Darvin Ham got let go. The Lakers are still going through their process, they’re still taking their time with this search. The belief around the NBA is that any potential hiring of Redick would come after the NBA Finals, that’s where his focus is right now and for the Lakers part, they have to interview other candidates. But from what I’m told, they have been infatuated with JJ Redick and his potential as the coach, not only for the short-term, not only for Lebron James and Anthony Davis now, but the long-term four, five, six years down the line when you think about a long-term head coach and someone that you know can have the gravitas to lead this current group. And their search has been seriously focused on him and James Borrego, the Pelicans associate head coach, over the last couple weeks.
“They’ve had two meetings with James Borrego, the second one came last week at the Lakers facility. But JJ Redick was the first candidate to meet face-to-face with the Lakers and Rob Pelinka three weeks ago, Borrego has gone a couple times. And there is real belief around the league that this job is going to be JJ Redick’s to lose, but he is color commentating for the NBA Finals right now. The Lakers will continue to move along in this process that they have with no real timetable for a hiring.”
Redick’s knowledge of the game of basketball is unquestioned and it isn’t unprecedented for someone with no experience to thrive as a head coach as Steve Kerr led the Golden State Warriors to the NBA Championship in his first season and will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all-time.
The Lakers are a franchise that has sustained success since its inception and they want that to continue and get back in the championship mix. The LeBron James-Anthony Davis era won’t be around for too much longer and Redick will need to be equipped to handle that change and the Lakers apparently believe he can.
Potential Lakers coach JJ Redick focused on NBA Finals
But as was pointed out, JJ Redick will be calling the NBA Finals and that is where his focus is at for the time being.
The potential Lakers head coach recently reiterated this point, noting that his day-to-day is consumed with everything that goes into his job as color commentator for ESPN and ABC and anything else will be addressed following the conclusion of the Finals.
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