The Los Angeles Lakers chose to delegate some responsibility during the process of hiring J.J. Redick as the team's next head coach.
Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka told Mike Trudell of Spectrum that LeBron James was "supportive of the organization" but did "chose not to be heavily involved." in the search for Redick, while Anthony Davis was "very involved" with the process.
Mike Trudell @LakersReporterPelinka drew a distinction between LeBron and AD's involvement in the coaching search:<br><br>On LeBron: "He was very supportive of this organization in our process, but chose not to be heavily involved."<br><br>On AD: "Anthony Davis chose to be very involved … he was very excited for…
This comes after Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported that Redick did not speak with James about the coaching search until 30 minutes after he was offered the position. This is notable when considering that the two host the Mind the Game podcast together.
Jovan Buha @jovanbuhaJJ Redick says he didn't talk to LeBron James during the coaching search until 30 minutes after he was offered the position on Thursday. Redick says they then spoke for about 15-20 minutes on the phone. He added that he knew James didn't want to be involved and respected that.
This difference in involvement does make sense, as the 39-year-old James may not be with the team in the long-term while Davis will be with the team through at least 2026-27.
James does have a player option for 2024-25, but he is expected to opt out of it. While he could choose to return to the Lakers, he still is towards the end of his career and may not last through Redick's tenure with the Lakers.
Still, his friendship with Redick likely played at least some role in the Lakers decision and that could be the "support" that James provided in the search.
Either way, Redick will enter his first coaching gig with a Lakers team that went 47-35 and fell in the first round of the postseason.
