The Los Angeles Lakers have officially named their next head coach, and he’s a familiar face for L.A. basketball fans.
JJ Redick will take the reins of one of the league’s most storied franchises for the 2024-25 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN newsbreaker and Redick’s now-former colleague.
Redick has agreed to a four-year deal to coach the Lakers, Woj reports, adding that the former NBA 3-point specialist and college basketball star is in the process of hiring a staff with experienced assistant coaches.
Redick has never coached in the NBA before, having just retired in 2021 after playing 15 seasons in the league and spending his time since working on podcasts and behind the microphone as part of ESPN’s NBA commentary and gamecast team.
He was part of ESPN’s top broadcast team that just covered the NBA Finals matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the eventual champions the Boston Celtics, the Lakers’ most loathed rival.
Redick has made a name for himself as one of the up-and-coming NBA media voices, with multiple successful podcasts, including one he co-hosts with LeBron James — his new star player and the team’s most influential contributor.
Angelenos may remember Redick from his four seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, in which he averaged nearly 16 points per game as one of the game’s most lethal 3-point shooters.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
Drafted out of Duke in 2006, Redick had a decorated college career, having been named a two-time All-American and the 2005-06 Associated Press Player of the Year.
Redick will take over for Darvin Ham, who was dismissed as Lakers head coach after a disappointing (for the Lakers) tenure. Ham led the Lakers to a 90-74 record in two seasons with one appearance in the Western Conference Finals in 2023.
In 2024, however, the Lakers were eliminated in the first round.