Back In The Day NBA

Former NBA Coach George Karl Not A Fan Of Lakers Hiring JJ Redick

Shandel Richardson

Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers have offered lots of praise for new coach JJ Redick.

They have reportedly compared him to Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat. Most of it is positive.

And then there is former NBA coach George Karl.

He has made a few humorous but critical comments since the hire was made Thursday. You can expect Karl to go after the Lakers next season due to Redick's inexperience. This is his first coaching job.

"It’s going to be really damn hard for me to not troll the Lakers next season," Karl posted on X above a picture of Redick.

Karl was an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs from 1978-80 before getting his first coaching gig with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1984. He made his strongest mark while coaching the Seattle SuperSonics from 1992-98.

He led them to the league's best record in 1994 before they were upset by the Denver Nuggets in the first round. Later, the Sonics advanced to the 1996 Finals, where they lost to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in six games.

It appears Karl is concerned with Redick's lack of experience.

Karl made one post before leaving the subject, "I hurt my shoulder this week. Instead of an experienced orthopedic, maybe I should just ask my neighbor with a pre med degree from college last month to fix me up!

Hell if inexperience doesn’t matter to the Lakers, why should I care?!"

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

Published
Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com