Lakers' JJ Redick Reveals Talk With Jarred Vanderbilt

Ahead of the Lakers' game against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, Redick revealed that he met with Vanderbilt. He didn't elaborate on their conversation. However, he told the media that their meeting went "great."

Since the incident happened, Vanderbilt has not commented on what happened. After the team's defeat on Tuesday, he did not speak to reporters and left the Crypto.com Arena immediately. Additionally, he had a limited time on the floor, playing only 4:41 minutes.

Since Redick took over as the head coach, Vanderbilt's minutes have decreased. The defensive forward averaged 20.0 minutes during the 2023-24 season under Darvin Ham. Although he was limited to just 29 games, he was still an important part of the rotation.

Under Redick, the forward averaged 16.1 minutes last season, which was the head coach's first year with the team. This season, it slightly increased to 17.2 minutes per game. Vanderbilt's time on the floor has been the biggest issue for him since the first-time NBA head coach took over.

During the latter weeks of November and early days of December, Vanderbilt was out of the rotation. He was not injured, but logged eight straight DNPs. During that stretch, Redick commented on the decision not to play the forward.

“It doesn’t mean that he’s not gonna be back in the rotation at some point, whether we’re healthy or whether we’re missing a couple guys. When you’re winning games, it’s hard to re-do the rotation mid-winning streak,” Redick said. 

“But I certainly have empathy for him and it’s not an easy situation to be in as a coach and certainly not a fun situation for him to be in as a player.”

Eventually, Vanderbilt had his chance and was able to play again.