JJ Redick Calls Out 'Cap' Allegations, Reveals First Time He and LeBron James Discussed Lakers Job

JJ Redick called out allegations surrounding his hiring with the Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers' decision to hire former NBA guard JJ Redick as the new head coach this summer caused many people to have an opinion. While Redick has been part of the basketball community since retirement, his lack of coaching experience left some things to be desired.

Redick stayed around basketball as a broadcaster and podcaster, helping to keep his relevancy in coaching circles alive. He also started a podcast with Lakers star LeBron James, a few months before being hired.

This led many to believe that he and James had discussed the idea of Redick becoming the Lakers head coach. However, both James and Redick have pushed back on this narrative very heavily.

While appearing on "The Lowe Post" podcast with Zach Lowe, Redick called "cap" on the allegations once again.

“Yeah, I said this at my press conference, and I guess there was a strong reaction,” Redick said when asked when he and James first discussed him coaching the Lakers. “People thought I was capping — is that the correct term? People said that’s cap. I think that means you’re lying. No, it’s the honest truth. … I got the offer on Thursday, June 20th.

“And at — I don’t know — 11:30, I go to lunch with my dad. We sit down for lunch. We order our food. My kids were on a lunch break, so we just walked across campus to the Washington Duke — the little inn there — and sit down for lunch, order the food, and I said, ‘Dad, I gotta go make one phone call real quick.’

“And I — there was just a phone call with LeBron, and that was the first time that we had talked about the possibility of me coaching the Lakers, and obviously, I informed him that there was an offer made, and we had a 15-minute phone conversation.”

Assuming that Redick is telling the truth, this is good news for the Lakers. One big worry that outsiders had was how the locker room would feel about Redick due to his connection with James.

However, Redick wasn't just being courted by the Lakers and interviewed with other teams for a head coaching job in recent times. But the Lakers job was the perfect mix of pressure and star players for Redick to step into the fold.

He will now be tasked with helping this core group maximize their talent to get over the hump. If Redick can find success with the Lakers, he could end up having a very long coaching career.

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