Whereas he was nonetheless enjoying, first-year Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick nearly joined 20-time All-Star LeBron James in Los Angeles, in keeping with sources. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. McMenamin notes that Redick was with the New Orleans Pelicans on the time, that means this deal would have been mentioned in the course of the 2019-20 or 2020-21 season.
At this level, Redick was now not the bounce shot and ball-cutter professional he was throughout his peak LA Clippers period, however he was nonetheless a potent veteran offensive contributor. Throughout his first season in New Orleans, he averaged 15.3 factors with .453/.453/.892 capturing instances, 2.5 rebounds and a couple of.0 assists in 60 video games ( 36 departures). He might have match right into a much less defensive iteration of championship Lakers Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Danny Inexperienced.
As McMenamin notes, though Redick and James’ groups often crossed paths within the playoffs, Redick was not often accessible. Within the 2009 Japanese Convention Finals, Redick missed 5 of his Orlando Magic’s six video games towards James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. Redick averaged simply 17 minutes per night time throughout his Milwaukee Bucks’ 2013 first-round matchup towards James’ Miami Warmth.
McMenamin studies that Redick and James met for dinner to speak after Los Angeles’ in-season event semifinals loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on December 7, 2023. Los Angeles would go on to defeat the Indiana Pacers within the last of the in-season event. .
Redick had dinner with James and the co-founder of his manufacturing firm “Uninterrupted,” Maverick Carter, at Wynn On line casino’s Wing Lei restaurant.
“We form of talked about some preliminary ideas about a spot the place he might discuss basketball,” Redick mentioned. “It was actually like, ‘Hey, this man needs to do it. I need to do it. It is about basketball. It is the factor we love essentially the most, so let’s put it on the market. ‘”
That dialog shortly snowballed into James and Redick’s short-lived however profitable joint podcast, “Thoughts The Recreation.”
“After the primary session, I form of pushed,” Redick mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘We will not make this something apart from what it’s. That is as pure because it will get for this house. I do not need to water it down with anything. It’s actually good.”
As McMenamin notes, “Thoughts The Recreation” attracted greater than 500,000 YouTube subscribers and averaged 1.5 million viewers per episode. When Redick took over as head coach of the Lakers, he introduced that his two podcasts, “Thoughts The Recreation” and “The Previous Man And Three”, can be ending. He additionally (clearly) renounced his obligations as an ESPN broadcaster.
“We had quite a lot of enjoyable throughout our podcast,” James advised McMenamin. “JJ could be very straightforward to speak to. … He is extraordinarily clever, if anybody has watched the podcast.”
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