Lakers officially introduce JJ Redick as the team’s new head coach – his first NBA coaching job

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Lakers officially introduced JJ Redick as the franchise’s next coach on Monday.

Redick, an ESPN NBA analyst who played in the league for 15 years, will be one of the youngest head coaches in the NBA at 40, just a few months older than LeBron James.

Last week, the Lakers agreed to a four-year contract with Redick, who is taking on his first coaching job after retiring from playing in 2021. He becomes the team’s seventh head coach since 2011.

His lack of experience was one of the first topics he brought up at Monday’s press conference.

“I take this responsibility very seriously,” he said.

Just as ironically, he added, “I’ve never coached in the NBA before. I don’t know if you guys have ever heard that.”

“My motivation for doing this – it starts with a very simple foundation of service. I think the best moments, especially towards the end of my career, were about helping players. So it starts with the desire to serve players, to serve the Lakers. organization, to serve our fans.”

“It’s also about competition and performance, collaboration, leadership. These are the things that drive me.”

He added that he is well aware of the Lakers’ storied history and the fans’ high expectations.

“Sitting in this seat, I know what the expectations are. Lakers fans have some of the most passionate fans in the world. The expectation is a championship. It’s my job, it’s our staff’s job, it’s the Rob’s job, it’s up to all of us to deliver a championship-caliber team. That’s what I signed up for.”

Lakers vice president and general manager Rob Pelinka said he spoke with Redick last month at the NBA draft combine in Chicago and it quickly became clear they shared a similar outlook on the game.

“… We shared a basketball philosophy that was very similar, and it was based on high-level strategy,” Pelinka said. “It was based on a certain way of communicating with players and teaching them, and probably most importantly, prioritizing player development.”

“…It became clear that one of JJ’s passions was to bring some of the incredible things he’s done in basketball thinking and basketball content to player development. …I think this will be something that will be very exciting for our fans to see – how we take a new and unique approach to Lakers excellence with player development and combine that with high-level strategy and high-level attention to detail on the basketball court with how we play, with how we are organized, how we compete and ultimately how we win.”

Lakers player Austin Reaves spoke about his new head coach last weekend.

“He’s a basketball genius, as everyone knows, I think,” Reaves said. “I think he’s going to be a good coach and I can’t wait to get started with him. I just can’t wait to put our brains together and have a good year.”

Redick already has a strong relationship with James, with whom he co-hosts a basketball podcast. But he said he only spoke to James about the position shortly after he was offered the job.

Lebron could opt out of his contract with the Lakers this week.

In his roles on previous teams, James was seen as highly influential in team coaching and personnel decisions. Pelinka described his role in this search as supportive, but not involved.

“LeBron was very supportive of us and our process, but chose not to be heavily involved and we respected that,” Pelinka said.

“Anthony Davis was very involved. I spoke with him throughout the process and received a lot of help and wisdom from him. He was very excited about today.”

ESPN contributed to this report.