D'Angelo Russell Likes JJ Redick So Much, He's Sending New Lakers HC Thank-You Memos

Russell talks about his new bond with head coach JJ Redick.

Apr 29, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell (1) reacts after a play in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets during game five of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

D'Angelo Russell's 2023-2024 season with the Los Angeles Lakers marked a career-defining year for the 28-year-old point guard, who returned to the team that originally drafted him back in 2015. After bouncing around the NBA with stints in Brooklyn, Golden State, and Minnesota, Russell's reunion with the Lakers gave him an opportunity to showcase his growth and maturity. Despite facing playoff struggles, his regular season performance was one of the best in his career.

This past season Russell broke the Lakers' single-season record for three-pointers surpassing Nick Van Exel with 187. In a season where Russell averaged 18.0 points, 6.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 76 games, he was still vilified by some members of the basketball community after his struggles during the first round of the 2023-24 Western Conference playoffs.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick has been a stern advocate for Russell as he believes that he can have a career season this year. When talking to reporters on Thursday, Russell glowed when having the opportunity to talk about his new head coach and the things he looks forward to the most.

“Hell yeah. Yeah, it excites me,” he said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I haven’t really had the opportunity to — and I’m not throwing shots at anybody, obviously, I know it kinda spins like that — but I’ve never really had the opportunity to build a relationship with a coach over a long period of time.”

Last season it was clear the previous head coach Darvin Ham had a tumultuous relationship with his roster as it was obvious that he lost the confidence of the locker room before their playoff run. The subliminal quotes between coach and players did not go over well for the franchise as the failed to reach their goals a season ago.

D’Angelo Russell with an early endorsement of JJ Redick, saying he was thinking back to a play Redick ran in camp and sent him a voice memo from the golf course to tell him thanked him for showing him a play he’d never seen before pic.twitter.com/XX5TgdKNbd

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 3, 2024

“For me to see how JJ is trying to bring the play calls and just level of IQ into each practice and each film session, to see how he’s prioritizing that. I’ve always been a guy that wants to prioritize high IQ, high verbiage, high film sessions... like, let’s rise to that,” Russell said. “And he’s obviously doing that. It’s something to look forward to.”

Russell reminisced with the media about a time where he was on the golf course and Reddick sent him a video of play, which he thanked his coach for through a voice memo. The relationship between starting point guard and head coach is critical as they are extensions of each other. Lakers' fans should be excited by the relationship Russell and Redick are building with one another.

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