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By Noah Camras
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Los Angeles Lakers have found their next head coach.
JJ Redick, a longtime NBA veteran who most recently worked on ESPN as an analyst for the NBA Finals, is being hired by the Lakers to be their next head coach. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the news on Thursday, saying it'll be a four-year deal.
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Wojnarowski wrote, "JJ Redick has agreed on a four-year contract to become the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Rob Pelinka offered the job this morning and Redick's started working on a staff to surround himself with experience...Pelinka became sold on Redick's ability to connect with players and his basketball IQ and believes surrounding him with an elite coaching staff will help to shorten the learning curve into his first coaching job, sources said."
This concludes a wild coaching search for Los Angeles that began at the beginning of May when the team fired Darvin Ham after just two seasons at the helm. Ham led the Lakers to back-to-back playoff appearances, but both ended in losses to the Denver Nuggets. After a first-round loss to Denver this year, L.A. decided to find a new coach.
Redick was a name consistently at the forefront of rumors. He and Lakers star LeBron James recently started a podcast titled Mind the Game, where they discuss basketball and even broke down some recent Lakers moments. It's not yet known if the podcast will continue now that Redick is James' boss.
Another top-reported candidate was University of Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley. The Lakers reportedly offered Hurley a six-year, $70 million deal, but he turned it down to remain at UConn. He did make it known that a higher offer could have swayed him to take the job, though.
Read more: Dan Hurley Says Lakers' Financial Offer Did Not Entice Him to Leave UConn
Aside from Redick and Hurley, there was James Borrego, a longtime veteran head coach. Most recently, there were rumblings about the Lakers potentially talking to Monty Williams, who was fired on Wednesday by the Detroit Pistons.
In the end, though, the answer was Redick, and he'll now be the 29th head coach in Los Angeles Lakers history.
Redick has no coaching experience at any level. He's played basketball his entire life, though, and attended Duke University, where he was the National College Player of the Year in 2006. Redick was drafted in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft and spent 15 seasons in the league with the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Dallas Mavericks. His broadcasting career began in 2021, and he quickly emerged as one of the best young broadcasting talents at ESPN.
After less than three years, though, and fresh off calling the NBA Finals, Redick will be moving back to the basketball world to be the head coach of one of the most storied franchises in the league's rich history.
Redick will have less than a week to get settled and prepare for the 2024 NBA Draft, which begins on Wednesday, June 26. The Lakers have the No. 17 pick in the first round on Wednesday, and the No. 55 pick in the second round on Thursday.
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