The Los Angeles Lakers have the most prominent coaching vacancy in the NBA, and it sounds like they may be particularly interested in one somewhat surprising candidate.
In an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Countdown Saturday, Wojnarowski suggested the Lakers have been doing their homework on ESPN broadcaster JJ Redick, and that he is in serious consideration for the head coaching job. Wojnarowski did add, however, that the search is expected to be wide open.
"That takes [Jason Kidd] certainly off of the Lakers wishlist." ✍️ @wojespn on Jason Kidd's extension with the Mavs and an update on the Lakers' coaching search 👀 pic.twitter.com/aOMy8PV8UC
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 11, 2024
“One name that the Lakers had been drilling down on in their initial research here: JJ Redick, our colleague at ESPN,” Wojnarowski said. “He is certainly somebody that the Lakers are intrigued with. They’ve been making a lot of calls to try to learn more about him.”
Redick has been linked to a few jobs this offseason despite his lack of experience, but the Lakers are certainly the most notable. It is also worth pointing out that Redick co-hosts a podcast with LeBron James, which has sparked some theories that James is actually feeling Redick out as a potential coach. A James endorsement would certainly go a long way toward getting Redick the job, even though the prevailing wisdom was that the Lakers might look for a more experienced coach in this search.
Several other experienced names have been linked to the Lakers after the team fired Darvin Ham following their first round exit. Redick is not one of them, but with the likes of Mike Budenholzer off the market, he seems to be a real candidate.
