Magic Johnson Believes JJ Redick's Past Could Hurt Relationship With Lakers Players

John Robinson | Sep 29, 2024

February 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA great Magic Johnson before the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Miandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

When the news broke that the Los Angeles Lakers would be hiring 15-year NBA veteran JJ Redick as their 29th head coach, fans, and basketball correspondents had mixed reviews about the decision. The criticism of Redick was due to the fact that he had no previous history working as a head coach at any level. The Lakers would be taking a massive risk after the failures of Darvin Ham, who had also been a first-time head coach.

Now there isn't a person in the basketball community who questions Redick's understanding of the game, but being the head coach of a team led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis is a completely different task. The job of a head coach is not just putting the best game plan together in order to win, but it's about managing the personalities on the team.

Now there have been success stories and disasters that have come from the hiring of a coach with no previous experience at the professional level. The Steve Nash experiment with the Brooklyn Nets was a nightmare for the organization, however, Steve Kerr was able to lead the Golden State Warriors into becoming one of the NBA's most decorated franchises.

Lakers legend Magic Johnson essentially warned Redick on the 'Jimmy Kimmel Show' about him potentially having tension in the locker room due to the fact that he criticized some of the players as an analyst for popular sports network ESPN.

“It’s hard to go from where he was to the coach now because remember he was criticizing guys. Now he is got to come coach these guys that are in the NBA, in that locker room,”Johnson said of Redick on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

Now Johnson does have a fair point, but it was Redick's job to critique players as an NBA analyst. The former Duke Blue Devil had never been malicious in his criticisms of players during his analysis so it would be hard to believe that anyone from the Lakers' locker room would hold a grudge against him.

There will definitely be some ups and downs to begin the NBA season for Redick as he will have to go through the experiences of being a new head coach. However, with the confidence of the entire organization and LeBron James, it is okay to assume that Redick will transition well into his role as the leader of the Lakers.

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