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Los Angeles Lakers rookie head coach JJ Redick and his assistant Lindsey Harding were named to The Athletic’s NBA 40 Under 40 list.
Redick, 40, was a rising star in TV broadcast and social media platforms three years into his retirement as an NBA player when the Lakers offered him his first NBA coaching job even without prior bench experience.
This accomplishment “speaks to his basketball IQ and the respect he has earned across the sport, not only after 15 years in the NBA but with his smart media appearances and basketball podcast,” according to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov, who compiled the list.
Vorkunov came up with the list, which includes NBA coaches and rising NBA front-office personnel “after much deliberation and many discussions” with front-office executives, coaches, league office officials, agents and staffers from the players’ union, as well as others in the NBA orbit.
Redick previously worked for ESPN as their top basketball analyst after his former LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers left to take on the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coaching job.
Meanwhile, Harding, 40, was the first woman to win NBA G League Coach of the Year after guiding the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s farm team, to a league-best 24-10 record. She and Redick also interviewed for the Hornets head coaching job that eventually went to Charles Lee, 39, who was also named to the NBA 40 Under 40 list by The Athletic.
Landing an assistant coaching gig with the high-profile Lakers “is just the latest sign of success for Harding after a sterling playing career, where she was the Naismith National Player of the Year at Duke, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft and a solid player during her professional career,” Vorkunov wrote.
JJ Redick Embraces Pressure of Coaching the Lakers
Redick knows the perils of taking such a high-profile job with the Lakers on his first try.
But he revealed during his introductory presser that this is what he wanted after failing to land coaching jobs with Toronto last year and Charlotte earlier this offseason.
“I’ve got to do some amazing stuff in my life. Right?” Redick said, per the Los Angeles Times. “This might be the best. When I think about this job in particular, it’s not just about getting the job. … What, I wanted to do was do the job. I wanted to coach the Los Angeles Lakers.”
Redick said he knows the expectations that come with coaching LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
“I just want to say sitting in this seat, I know what the expectations are. Lakers fans have some of the most passionate fans around the world,” Redick said. “And the expectation is a championship. And so it’s, it’s my job, it’s our staff’s job, it’s Rob’s job, it’s all of us, to deliver a championship-caliber team.
“That’s what I signed up for.”
Anthony Davis Reveals Talk with JJ Redick After Coaching Hire
Davis held conversations with Redick after the coaching hire where the rookie head coach shared his vision.
Davis said Redick plans to hand the keys to him as James winds up his storied career.
“[Redick] talked about me being the hub of the offense,” Davis said, per Ben Golliver of the Washington Post. “That will be different. We won’t know everything until [training] camp when we’re able to get on the floor. We want LeBron to shoot more 3’s. [Redick] wants to play fast and defend. From what he was telling me, I’m in total agreeance with what he has planned for us. … The goal at the end of the day is still to win a championship. You can’t skip steps.”
It will be an interesting dynamic as James has always been the focal point of his teams and he showed at 39, in last season’s NBA and Team USA’s gold medal run in the Paris Olympics, that there are no signs of slowing down.
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