The Los Angeles Lakers have had a phenomenal start to the season. Although they suffered a mountain of injuries to start the year, they still sit at 10-4 through their first 14 games.
The Lakers have proven to be good enough to rank among the top teams in the Western Conference, and head coach JJ Redick has been a big reason for that.
Redick is in his second season at the helm for Los Angeles, and so far, things have been great. Redick and the Lakers are picking up right where they left off, at least where they left off in the regular season.
The hiring of Redick caused some controversy as he had no prior coaching experience. The only experience that Redick had in coaching was coaching his son’s youth basketball team.
After his first season as head coach and guiding the Lakers to 50 wins in 2024-25, he made a ton of people who doubted him eat their words. However, there are still some out there who poke fun at Redick, including Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch.
In a recent appearance on The Ringer’s “The Zach Lowe Show,” Finch took a massive, but what appeared to be a playful shot at Redick.
“I bet you three quarters of these people are going to go home and do a podcast tonight,” Finch said. “I mean, it’ll qualify you to coach the Lakers.”
Finch’s lower-seeded Timberwolves defeated the Lakers in the playoffs last season in five games.
While Redick had zero coaching experience, it was clear that he was very knowledgeable about the game. He showed that to be the case on two of his podcasts prior to taking the Lakers job, “The Old Man and the Three” and “Mind the Game” with future Hall of Famer LeBron James.
Many were outraged that the Lakers, arguably one of the best franchises in all of sports, would decide to hire a first-time guy like Redick. However, so far, it appears Redick is the man for the job.
In his short tenure, he has collected a 60-36 record and led the Lakers to a No. 3 seed in the loaded Western Conference last season. This year, the Lakers could surpass last season’s win total and then some.
The Lakers have also shown that they believe in Redick, signing him to a contract extension before the start of the season. They extended him by two years, giving him a total value of $45 million through the 2029-30 season.
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