Media Mostly Agrees Lakers Coach JJ Redick Should Not Swear

Redick swore twice while insisting he didn't care.

Redick shares a laugh with local media members. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers introduced new head coach JJ Redick to the media on Monday afternoon. Redick donned a suit and tie and ditched the backwards hat in an attempt to make a good first impression. It didn't work.

Asked what misconceptions about himself he was hoping to dispel as the Lakers coach, Redick responded with not one, but two F-bombs.

"I don't really have a great answer for your question because I really don't give a f---," said Redick. "Honestly. I want to coach the Lakers. I want to coach the team. I don't want to dispel anything. I don't. I want to become a great coach in the NBA and I want to win championships and I want my players to maximize their careers. That's all I f------ care about."

Spoken like a true podcaster. Unfortunately, he's not a podcaster anymore. Now he's a coach. An authority figure. An adult with a real job. People did not like it. On his radio show yesterday, YES's Michael Kay said he might sound like an "old guy on the lawn, shouting at clouds," when he called out Redick for his word choice, but he wasn't alone. Frank Isola and Seth Davis also tweeted about Redick's unnecessary use of profanity.

Enough already with the (bleeping) profanity in public and during press conferences. Politicians, athletes, coaches. Over the top. https://t.co/citKBRZuWn

— Frank Isola (@TheFrankIsola) June 24, 2024

I think Redick was a smart hire. I think he has a chance to succeed. But this is beneath him. He can make the same point emphatically without resorting to profanity. https://t.co/fNMSiIFYcd

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) June 25, 2024

"What exactly has happened to the coarsening of our society where a guy who went to Duke, a bright guy, just drops an f-bomb on live TV?" Michael Kay on JJ Redick pic.twitter.com/kcfP7LosE6

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 25, 2024

Of course, not everyone clutched pearls when they heard Redick's comment. FS1's Colin Cowherd was more focused on Redick's message and said he loves it when "people make others uncomfortable. Deal w it."

Love it when people make others uncomfortable. Deal w it. His mission is on point. https://t.co/xO5fJvoQ6f

— Colin Cowherd (@colincowherd) June 25, 2024

Cowherd was not the only FS1 personality to forgive Redick's choice of words. Rachel Nichols refuted the strawman argument that small children could have been watching a press conference on a Monday afternoon. "Does it matter that young, impressionable children may have been listening," said Nichols. "I have kids, they've heard it before."

While she said that Redick would learn a lesson from this incident, she also offered an explanation for why it happened in the first place, saying that Redick didn't realize the press conference was being simulcast on television and radio.

"I don’t have a problem with him thinking it, saying it is a little bit of an interesting situation because he didn’t realize at the time that he was being simulcast on radio and TV." - Rachel Nichols on JJ Redick dropping f-bombs pic.twitter.com/b4Mn4SSIDA

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 25, 2024

Redick ran a media company as recently as last weekend. The Lakers head coach's introductory press conference seems like something that would be broadcast live in the 24/7 news era. You would think someone as media savvy as Redick would understand that. And even if he thought the presser wasn't being broadcast live, there were cameras there. And microphones. And rows and rows of media members recording and writing down the things he said.

Just because you say something bad and it's not broadcast live on television, that doesn't make it less bad. It's a lesson that JJ Redick needed to learn at some point.