Lakers Not the First Team to Tap the Media Coaching Pipeline, Won't Be the Last

Hiring a media member with no prior coaching experience has been a practice in the NBA for decades.

New Lakers head coach JJ Redick, via 'Mind the Game' YouTube channel /

It's hard to comprehend now, but Steve Kerr was not a guaranteed success story when he was hired by the Golden State Warriors ahead of the 2014-2015 NBA season. He was famous for his time with the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan and had spent a few seasons as general manager of the Phoenix Suns. But when he headed to the Bay Area, most recent memories featured Kerr as the guy from television; he worked eight seasons for TNT as an analyst between 2003 and 2014.

This is, of course, relevant once more because another guy from television got hired with no prior coaching experience. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers tapped JJ Redick as the franchise's next head coach. Given the prestige of the franchise, it's the highest-profile instance yet of a team plucking a coach straight from the media ranks.

Like with Kerr, many perfectly valid questions being asked. With the Lakers in particular the noise is loud regarding whether they really should be entrusting the final years of LeBron James to not just a guy with zero prior coaching experience, but one who was most recently seen on ESPN and promoting his podcast on social media.

That's not to say Redick is fated to go the way of Kerr, who put together a dynastic championship run. It's also not to say he's set up to crash and burn in the epic manner many are expecting. It is a reminder that no matter how ridiculous the audience feels it may be, teams are going to continue to tap the media coaching pipeline in an effort to find their own Kerr.

In fact, the practice has been happening for decades. Even with the Lakers! Pat Riley, as recently documented in HBO's Winning Time, went from being L.A.'s TV analyst to an assistant coach with no experience in the coaching arena before taking over for Paul Westhead. There are even stronger parallels in NBA history.

Dan Issel was on the call for Denver Nuggets games from 1988 to 1992 before he was hired as head coach ahead of the 1992-'93 season. He'd go on to lead Denver to the NBA's first-ever 8-over-1 seed upset in his rookie season. Quinn Buckner teamed up with Kevin Harlan to call Minnesota Timberwolves games and was in the broadcast booth for ESPN and NBC games in the early 1990s before he was plucked by the Dallas Mavericks to become head coach. Mark Jackson, who became one of the most famous color commentators in sports, was last a YES analyst before the Warriors hired him. All of those names boasted zero prior coaching experience.

Most of those hires happened well before Kerr. NBA teams have been doing this for a long time. And, obviously, it isn't limited to basketball. The Indianapolis Colts famously hired an ESPN analyst themselves, Jeff Saturday, to take over in the middle of the 2022 season with no prior experience. It did not go well and Saturday is back on set.

There are few commonalities between all these hires except their TV presence combined with their complete lack of coaching experience. There is no pattern to observe, no sweeping conclusions to be made about how Redick or anyone like him will perform. But it is fascinating, isn't it? All the above teams had essentially endless options to choose from. What makes the TV analyst so much more tempting to bet on than any number of former players or executives who have also been around basketball all their lives but just didn't end up in front of a camera?

There is no clear answer to this phenomena, but we may be getting more insight in the near future because the value of the pundit in the eyes of teams and players has never been higher. Or, perhaps more accurately, the relevance of a pundit. With everybody in the sports world experiencing endless exposure to the latest Hot Take, the presence of analysts like Redick has never been more constant.

That gives players plenty of opportunity for receipts, and the dominant sports culture is now to stick it to the haters. The Boston Celtics, one day after winning their 18th NBA championship, posted a minutes-long compilation of everybody who picked against them as a victory lap. However, more platforms than ever also gives opportunity for an individual like Redick to show off their basketball knowledge in constant, high-pressure situations that those watching are not afforded.

Explaining a schematic breakdown to an audience of tens of millions in terms basic enough for even the most inexperienced fan to understand isn't like being on the sideline, but it is certainly a challenge. With that kind of pressure to operate under, maybe we shouldn't be as surprised that teams are willing to pluck from the media ranks despite the common perception among fans that media members are closer to the audience than the subjects of their coverage.

Regardless of the why, teams have proven they believe this to be a valid path of advancement. Redick is merely the latest example. Many, many factors will go into his eventual success or failure. But he got the job because he knows basketball and constantly demonstrated that for an audience of millions— a trait not at all unique to Redick.

Expect to see another follow his path eventually.