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JJ Redick Has Broken 'a Number' of Clipboards in First Month As Lakers Coach

Kristen Wong

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Four wins. Four losses. 116 points per game. 46.8% of field goals made. And “a number” of broken clipboards.

Those are the preliminary stats from JJ Redick’s first few weeks as the Los Angeles Lakers coach, with the last one courtesy of ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Redick, who took the helm of the Lakers in June, replaced Darvin Ham after Ham coached Los Angeles to a disappointing first-round exit in the 2023-24 playoffs. Amid widespread doubt over Redick’s ability to lead a team in the NBA, the first-time head coach boasts a stellar report card at the start of the season, per Charania.

"Anytime you have a coach that puts in as much as he does, on and off the floor, you know it’s palpable,” Charania said of Redick on SportsCenter. “How much he wants to win, how passionate he is about the game. ... I’m told there have been a number of clipboards broken over the first month of JJ Redick as head coach of the Lakers. He's supremely passionate and that's palpable within the roster about how badly he wants to win. He’s a perfectionist."

Charania added that Redick has been particularly “detail-oriented” and has brought a new level of “accountability” to the group.

Redick wasted no time ingratiating himself with Lakers reporters this past week, and the early returns on the Lakers’ four-year investment in the former podcaster appear to be positive amid the team’s slow start to the season. The Lakers (4-4) have dropped four of their last five games and currently rank 27th in defensive efficiency despite having one of the league’s top-caliber defenders in Anthony Davis.

Redick will look to iron out his team’s wrinkles in the Lakers’ matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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