JJ Redick might potentially be pulling a summer surprise.
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo! Sports reported on Wednesday that the ex-NBA guard Redick could now be a name to watch for the Detroit Pistons’ head coaching job. Detroit just fired coach Monty Williams earlier in the day Wednesday, creating an interesting new vacancy.
Goodwill notes that Redick has history with new Pistons lead executive Trajan Langdon. They both went to Duke University and were together on the New Orleans Pelicans from 2019-21 (when Redick was a player in New Orleans and Langdon was the team’s general manager). Goodwill also says that Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem is a known Redick fan.
All signs still point to Redick becoming the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. But the Pistons job suddenly opening up may give Redick something to really think about. While they were the worst team in the NBA this year, Detroit would bring significantly less scrutiny and far lower expectations for a first-time head coach such as Redick. The Lakers have also been known to cheap out on coaches before and didn’t even offer that huge of a contract to Dan Hurley. Meanwhile, money doesn’t seem to be an issue for the Pistons (whose owner Tom Gores just ate a massive sum to can Williams), so it is possible that Redick could command a more lucrative offer from Detroit.
If Redick pulls a shocker and ends up taking the Pistons job, it might not be the worst-case scenario for the Lakers either. In fact, there may be an interesting switcheroo possibility on the table for the purple and gold.
