LeBron James’ Role In Lakers Hiring JJ Redick As New Coach

The Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to hire J.J. Redick to be the team’s next head coach earned mixed reactions.

Some believed that Redick was the best option available in a relatively dry market. Others felt like this was L.A.’s latest misstep in the coaching department.

The fact that Redick immediately faced a pretty nasty Scandal and Kobe Bryant’s known hatred of him also didn’t help his case much.

Even Redick’s recent interview where he described which Lakers player he was most excited to coach was met with skepticism.

One thing nobody could ignore, however, was Redick’s relationship with LeBron James. The two host a podcast together and, given James’ leverage over the Lakers this summer, it felt like the front office wouldn’t make a move of this sort without his expressed blessing.

This week Redick answered once and for all whether James had any influence when it came to him being hired.

According to him, the two didn’t even talk about the job opening.

“He didn’t provide any advice,” Redick insisted.

“LeBron and I didn’t talk about the Lakers job until Thursday evening, about 30 minutes after I was offered the job. That was very intentional on both our parts.”

“LeBron and I didn’t talk about the Lakers job” 👀

JJ Redick says LeBron didn’t want to be involved in Lakers HC search pic.twitter.com/OW3Lb9pL9y

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 24, 2024

“I had an understanding that he didn’t want to be involved in this and for me, I don’t wanna go down the path of hypotheticals with someone that I consider a friend and have a great amount of respect for. For us, it came down to Thursday afternoon, we talked for 15-20 minutes, got off the phone, and that’s it.”

Obviously it is impossible to know whether Redick is telling the truth here or not, but that is his story and he is sticking to it.

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.