After a successful 15-year NBA playing career, JJ Redick tried his hand at podcasting while also serving as an analyst for ESPN. Despite also being successful in those endeavors, he wasn’t satisfied and jumped at the opportunity to succeed Darvin Ham as head coach of the iconic Los Angeles Lakers franchise.
Even though the team was heavily criticized for hiring someone with no coaching experience at any level, and it was an incredible risk to his reputation and post-playing career, Redick was up for the challenge, despite all the odds being against him and many believing he was destined to fail.
Lakers’ Redick Reveals Coaching Struggles in Today’s NBA
More than 20 games into his sophomore season as Lakers head coach, Redick has proven his worth and earned respect around the league for his coaching chops. However, it has been anything but easy for the 41-year-old for several different reasons.
After Lakers practice earlier this week, Redick made some interesting comments about how challenging it is to coach in the NBA, noting that social media does not make things any easier, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“Then there’s the shift that I’ve seen, this is not our team, it’s just the league, the shift that I’ve seen is these guys read every single thing about them,” Redick said.”They read every single good thing that’s said about them … They read every bad thing that’s said about them.
“What has happened, I think, is guys now just value just did I play well or did I play poorly, and I’m going to feel really good if I played well because all these people are going to say nice things about me and if I play poorly I’m going to feel really bad because all these people are going to say really bad things about me.”
“And so, getting guys to neutral and consistency every single day has just become incredibly difficult in our league.”
Clearly, Redick doesn’t seem to be a fan of social media and its impact on athletes’ mindsets in the NBA and NFL today.
Coaching on the NBA level is difficult enough and a job that many don’t hold onto for very long, as the head coach of teams is almost always the fall guy when things go sideways, especially in the NBA, as was seen with the Lakers after they parted ways with Frank Vogel and then Darvin Ham before hiring Redick.
Even though Redick has faced several challenges early in his NBA coaching career, the outspoken head coach has far exceeded expectations and could be paving the way to a successful career as a leader on the sidelines.
The addition of superstar Luka Dončić and the emergence of Austin Reaves as a legitimate star in this league have helped Redick and the Lakers become a force to be reckoned with in the NBA during the 2025-26 campaign.
