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Speculation continues to simmer around the Los Angeles Lakers and former NBA sharpshooter J.J. Redick. Reports continue to link Redick with the Lakers' vacant head coach gig, which opened earlier this month when Los Angeles dismissed the embattled Darvin Ham after two seasons on the bench. Redick, who has a podcast with Lakers superstar LeBron James, is said to be the team's preferred candidate for the position.
While Redick is unlikely to be hired before the 2024 NBA Finals due to broadcasting commitments with ESPN and ABC, many are starting to believe that where there is smoke, there is fire when it comes to the 39-year-old and one of the NBA's most successful franchises. One former Laker has come out to issue a warning to Redick: he might regret it if he takes this job.
Redick coaching the Lakers would be a "death sentence"
Speaking on NBA TV, Channing Frye -- an NBA champion as part of LeBron's Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 -- effectively told Redick not to head for La La Land if the opportunity to coach the King presented itself. Frye likened the experience to "jumping on a grenade," and he said that he "wouldn't recommend that job for anybody" -- not least of which, a rookie head coach.
The Lakers have been burned in recent years when going the "first-time NBA head coach" route. Other than the notable example of Phil Jackson, Los Angeles has rarely paid top dollar to attract coaches with a championship-caliber resume. Luke Walton, Frye's former teammate at the University of Arizona, only had interim experience when the Lakers hired him in 2016; he produced three losing seasons and was fired in 2019. Ham had no NBA head coaching experience when he led the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals last season and to the inaugural NBA Cup in December, but that wasn't enough to save his job.
Frye is far from the only critic of the Lakers' thinking. Former All-Star Paul Pierce has called Redick an "Instagram model" and doubts that LA's players -- which might not even include LeBron come next season -- will listen intently to what Redick tells them outside of the context of his "Mind the Game" and "The Old Man and the Three" podcasts.
It remains to be seen whether the criticism will cause Redick to reflect and ultimately turn down the reported interest from the Lakers, but it will be fascinating to see how this burgeoning saga ends -- one way or another.