JJ Redick Embraces Outside Noise Always Surrounding Lakers

Head coach JJ Redick is in his second season at the helm of the Los Angeles Lakers, and he’s now seeing first-hand just how much media attention is devoted to the purple and gold. He surely got a glimpse of it during his playing career, especially when he was playing for the L.A. Clippers, but nothing is quite like being a part of the circus each and every day.

One perfect example of this is the recent on-court spat between him and superstar Luka Doncic. What was a perfectly innocent moment of frustration for a head coach and his star player became a major media talking point, wondering if dysfunction was hitting the Lakers franchise.

Redick cleared the air and made sure it was known that the incident was nothing, but that’s not how people discuss the Lakers. Redick spoke about what it’s like for moments like that to go viral in that way because it can get people talking about the Lakers.

“It just feels normal, which is probably part of the reason I wanted to coach the Lakers,” Redick said before the team’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans. “I was talking with Luka about it, we were actually laughing about it. I was like, ‘I didn’t feel any tension,’ and he was like, ‘Nah, I didn’t care about it.’ You do it and you move on.

“But I think the reality is, everybody is always gonna have an opinion. Since pro spots have existed, everybody has always had an opinion. Sports talk, barber shops, chat rooms, everybody’s had an opinion. Now, everybody’s opinion is more easily accessible. So it’s more amplified now. But it’s normal.”

Having been with many other franchises in some capacity, Redick is qualified to say whether or not this is a Lakers-specific issue. It’s not even a question to him if that’s the case or not.

“It’s definitely special to the Lakers, and other teams, and other players, to be honest with you. We have LeBron James on our team, who is probably the most scrutinized, or one of the most scrutinized athletes of all time. When I made that comment, it was more just referencing my own personal psychosis,” he said.

“It’s why I wanted to play at Duke, it’s why when I was a free agent after a year of rebuilding in Orlando and then a first-round exit in Milwaukee, I said to Doc Rivers I want to come here because I want to play for something, I want it to matter, I want to be part of something that means something. That’s what I meant by that.”

Redick then turned his focus back to the Doncic situation specifically and what that could mean for him and the Lakers as a whole.

“I don’t know. I think the reality is each player is gonna go through moments throughout a season, and each team is gonna go through moments within a season. And you’re gonna fail and have bad moments. I’ve had bad moments as a coach. I think of like my response last year before Game 5. That was a bad moment for me. I failed at that. That’s a learning opportunity. That’s a growth opportunity.

“And I don’t think our players should be afraid to fail. And that’s emotional failure too. I think as a coach, we got to probably be a little bit better than our players. But it’s OK to fail emotionally in a moment because you learn from that. I’ve known Luka now about six years, our relationship is strong. It’s only gonna get stronger.”

The Lakers are always going to be the most talked-about subject in basketball, as it has been that way for decades in the NBA world. Redick is not only up for that challenge, but excited about being a part of it.

JJ Redick praises Lakers for returning to early form

The Lakers completed a strong comeback victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night, and Redick enjoyed the win specifically because it was reminiscent of the team’s early season play.

Recapturing the elite crunch-time performances of the early season is one of the last ways the Lakers can gain any ground in a difficult Western Conference.