Does Out-of-the-Box Lakers Head Coach Contender Acknowledge Huge Downside of Gig?

L.A. is interest in this surprise candidate... but should the candidate be interested in L.A.?

Apr 14, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and center Anthony Davis. / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

During a recent appearance on ESPN, front office expert Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that the Los Angeles Lakers seem to be honing in on at least two prospects to replace recently-canned head coach Darvin Ham: current New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach James Borrego, whom Wojnarowski credits for turning around the team's offense by utilizing a point forward approach for out-of-shape star Zion Williamson, and ESPN's own JJ Redick, a name Woj has floated before as a leading contender for the gig, despite his having zero coaching experience.

"Another candidate is someone who hasn't coached, and that's our colleague here at ESPN, JJ Redick," Wojnarowski added, after breaking down Borrego's case. "He is certainly somebody that the Lakers are drilling down on, they're making calls and trying to get a sense of what a head coach JJ Redick would look like. But this is going to be a long search, they're going to talk to a lot of candidates, and so I don't expect this process to go quickly."

L.A. team president Rob Pelinka has already run through three head coaches during his tenure stewarding the team. Frank Vogel won a title during his first year in Los Angeles, and he somehow wore out his welcome in just three seasons.

Whoever accepts the role must appreciate that it's something of a double-edged sword.

On the positive side, they'll get to be on national television more than almost anyone else by benefit of leading the NBA's glamor franchise, and they'll lead a team fronted by All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis that made the Western Conference Finals with pretty much the same core last spring.

But the caveats to becoming the Lakers' head coach are legion. They'll be heavily scrutinized by rampant media coverage at both the local and national levels, with their every rotation decision and perceived postgame presser misstep picked apart everywhere. They'll be operating for a win-now team that just might not be quite good enough to actually win now, guided by a GM who's shown a willingness to fire his head coaches with unnecessary frequency, with Davis and James both on the wrong side of 30 and taking up perhaps an inordinate amount of their team's cap.

Would Redick, who's been showing off his expert basketball acumen with insightful in-game commentaries and a very thorough podcast he co-hosts with James, Mind The Game, really want to step into a situation where he's probably going to be too hamstrung to actually win, or last that long? Or would he rather wait out the market for an opportunity to lead a younger roster with a higher ceiling elsewhere in the league?

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