Los Angeles Lakers told 'great basketball mind' JJ Redick should be next head coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have been urged to hire JJ Redick as the team’s next head coach.

Following their postseason exit at the hands of the Denver Nuggets , the Lakers dismissed coach Darvin Ham. Despite leading the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals last season and winning the inaugural in-season tournament, Ham's tenure ended with the franchise after just two years.

The Lakers were outclassed in the first round of the playoffs, falling to the defending champions in five games . As a result, the Purple and Gold are once again on the lookout for a new head coach to lead LeBron James , Anthony Davis , and the rest.

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Matt Barnes - who played two seasons with the Lakers from 2010 to 2012 - believes Redick would be a fine hire. While he admitted the vacancy is brutal and laden with pressure, Barnes suggested Redick would be able to handle the adversity as he praised the analyst’s ‘great basketball mind’.

“JJ's a great mind, he definitely deserves a shot,” Barnes told TMZ . “That Lakers seat is always going to be a hot seat, and it's always going to be a fall seat. So whoever takes it better be ready. Gotta have tough skin.”

Perhaps one of the reasons for the links between Redick and the Lakers coaching vacancy is his close relationship with James. The pair host a podcast together titled “Mind the Game”, which is co-produced by James’ Uninterrupted and Redick’s ThreeFourTwo Productions.

During the video series, the duo offers a detailed analysis of basketball, granting remarkable insight into the game. James and Redick use anecdotes and know-how to talk viewers through various aspects of the sport, including actions, plays, and terminology.

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The Lakers are expected to interview Redick alongside the likes of Kenny Atkinson and Clippers head coach Ty Lue should he become available. But Redick’s name has caught the most traction online, given he has emerged as a prominent figure in basketball media interviewing some of the game’s biggest stars on his "The Old Man and the Three” podcast, including Kevin Durant and Victor Wembanyama .

He interviewed for the Toronto Raptors vacancy a year ago as well as the Charlotte Hornets role last month . Before Joe Mazzulla took the reins of the Boston Celtics , there were rumors that Redick could join the Celtics coaching staff in 2022 but he decided to pass on the opportunity.

Earlier this week, former NBA champion Byron Scott suggested James should simply be the head coach of the Lakers himself . The 39-year-old is renowned for his willingness to chop and change coaches when things go awry, so Scott said he should be a player-coach.

“Make LeBron the coach," Scott said on Undisputed across from Skip Bayless. “I got nothing but love and respect for LeBron. I love him and I think he's one of the greatest players that ever played this game. But it's obvious to me that he's making a lot of decisions that is going on in this [Lakers] organization from a coaches and players standpoint.

“So if you're going to allow him to make those decisions, sit on the bench and make those decisions as well. Be the head coach.”

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