The past few weeks have seen JJ Redick rise up as one of the Los Angeles Lakers’ top choices to replace Darvin Ham as the team’s new head coach. This interest, though, has solicited some sarcastic takes from various personalities recently with George Karl among the most notable names out there.
After leading the LeBron James-led Lakers to a Western Conference Finals appearance last year, there was an expectation they can do it again this season. With the addition of intriguing pieces in Christian Wood, Gabe Vincent, and Cam Reddish while maintaining key players acquired during their previous playoff run, such as Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell, there should be no reason for Los Angeles to do worse.
The thing is, they did worse this time around. The Lakers barely made the playoffs after going through the Play-In Tournament. From there, they faced Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the first round and only managed to get one win against the defending champions. In the end, James and company were eliminated in five games.
Due to their early playoff exit, the front office decided to let Darvin Ham go. In turn, several candidates have been considered for the job, including Redick.
Los Angeles Lakers’ Head Coach Interest in JJ Redick Draws Sarcastic Take From George Karl
With some names now off the board, like Ty Lue and Jason Kidd, the chances of Redick getting the top job in LA has gotten stronger. This prompted former Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl to come up with a sarcastic take on the issue at hand.
“If a first time Head Coach doesn’t work, the next step must surely be a Head Coach with zero previous experience coaching at any level,” Karl tweeted.
Karl isn’t necessarily wrong here as Redick has never held any kind of coaching gig before being considered by the Lakers. On the other hand, he has years of experience in playing the game, analyzing it as a player, and has the trust of LeBron James.
It remains to be seen whether Los Angeles will bite the bullet and hire a candidate like Redick to coach the team. In any case, a lot of eyes will be on him if he ends up getting the job next season.
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