JJ Redick Reveals When He Spoke To LeBron James About Lakers Job

JJ Redick was asked about his communication with LeBron James.

Jun 24, 2024; El Segundo, CA, USA; The Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick speaks to the media during an introductory news conference at the UCLA Health Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday, JJ Redick was introduced to the media for the first time as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Redick has never coached in the league, but he is a 15-year NBA veteran.

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One interesting layer of the hire was that Redick had a podcast with LeBron James (Mind the Game Pod).

Redick was asked if there was communication about the Lakers job with James (h/t Bleacher Report).

Redick: "LeBron and I did not talk about the Lakers job until Thursday afternoon, about 30 minutes after I was offered the job. That was very intentional on both our parts. I knew I had an understanding that he did not want to be involved in this. For me, I didn't want to go down the path of hypotheticals with someone that I consider a friend and someone that I have a great amount of respect for. For us, it just came down to Thursday afternoon. I talked to him for about 15-20 minutes, and got off the phone; that was it."

“LeBron and I didn’t talk about the Lakers job” 👀

JJ Redick says LeBron didn't want to be involved in Lakers HC search pic.twitter.com/OW3Lb9pL9y

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 24, 2024

James has played six seasons for the Lakers and led them to the 2020 NBA Championship over the Miami Heat.

At 39, he is still among the best players in the NBA and finished the regular season with averages of 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.3 steals per contest while shooting 54.0% from the field and 41.0% from the three-point range in 71 games.

"This job was about the Lakers... and it was about LeBron James and Anthony Davis, two of the greatest players ever... I've gotten to do some amazing stuff in my life... this might be the best."

JJ Redick on taking the Lakers job 🙌 pic.twitter.com/4WdfDoLmt0

— NBA (@NBA) June 24, 2024

The Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.