JJ Redick Set To Bench Key Lakers Starter

After getting off to a hot 3-0 start to begin the 2024-25 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers have come crashing back down to Earth.

The team is now 1-3 in their last four and now looks every bit the mediocre, play-in squad they were under Darvin Ham.

Now Anthony Davis is publicly griping about J.J. Redick and his teaMMAtes.

Redick, meanwhile, is struggling to explain why the Lakers still suck under his watch.

Something clearly needs to change.

According to team insider Anthoy Irwin, that change may come in the form of a key starter getting benched.

“Several sources I spoke to over the summer speculated whether it might make more sense for Redick to either stagger [D’Angelo] Russell and [Austin] Reaves or split them up altogether from the starting lineup,” he wrote.

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While benching either Russell or Reaves sounds like a logical solution, there are some issues with it.

“The issue Redick has run into this year in trying to stagger Reaves and Russell (let alone in potentially moving Russell to the bench) has been the substandard play he’s gotten from Gabe Vincent and Max Christie,” Irwin continued.

“Vincent is averaging an extremely meager 3.2 points per Game and Christie isn’t much better at 4.2 ppg. Depth was already a concern and with two guys slated to be big parts of the rotation playing like they have, Redick hasn’t been able to tinker the way he may have wanted to.”

It will be interesting to see how Redick adjusts.

Clearly the Lakers need to do something.

What will that something end up being?

Time will tell.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.