For a lack of more formal terms, all hell has broken loose on the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 2025-26 season.
The very same Los Angeles Lakers that were seen as NBA championship contenders last week.
L.A. has been hit with unfortunate same-day injuries that have slammed shut the door on a once promising season. The team looked like it could do no wrong when Luka Doncic went on his March scoring avalanche, all while becoming just the third player in league history to amass 600 points in a single month.
Then, he strained his hamstring and Austin Reaves strained his oblique.
Then the Lakers lost and lost some more while head coach JJ Redick publicized his displeasure with multiple L.A. players.
GettyLOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 10: Lakers head coach JJ Redick. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Suddenly, we’ve gone from the title-worthy Lakers to the brawl-worthy Lakers.
Redick has certainly been put in an unfair position, the entire team has. But that doesn’t remove them from this difficult new reality.
Los Angeles Lakers’ JJ Redick Criticized by Renowned Columnist
There is a lot to like about the basketball-player-turned-head-coach. Just like he was unafraid to shoot from long distances on the court, he’s unfettered from making direct, blunt statements for everyone to hear.
Los Angeles was thoroughly defeated against the Oklahoma City Thunder, well two times, actually, in the last few days. Both brutal losses. But after the most recent loss, Redick vented and vented some more.
He mentioned Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt, and everyone has had a reaction.
But for Bill Plaschke of the L.A. Times, Redick publicly clashing with his players signals a deep, rough reality for the second-year head coach.
“One has to wonder about Redick’s connectivity with his players if one of them is unafraid to confront him on the court during the middle of a game,” Plaschke wrote, referring to Vanderbilt, who had to be restrained when aiming frustration toward Redick during a timeout in the loss to Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
What a bizarre turn of events. The once-charmining season has quickly degenerated into the head coach and a key player butting heads.
In the postgame press conference, Redick also explained why he called a timeout early in the game. He stated he took Hachimura out of the game because the Lakers forward didn’t “do his job.”
All of this is after Redick was widely criticized last week for not taking Luka Doncic out of the game against the Thunder when the Lakers star had already shown signs of discomfort in his hamstring before he went down in the third quarter.
Redick was adamant that he, Doncic and the medical staff agreed to continue playing Doncic even when the game was already a blowout.
Wrote Plaschke: “One has to also wonder, again, about Redick’s big-game management style if he would allow his two best players to risk their health during a blowout. Redick, who signed an extension in September that will keep him under contract until 2030, is not on the hot seat, not yet. But another spring meltdown will not endear himself to new owners who expect their coaches to be the calm face of the organization.”
Is Redick’s Lakers Future in Trouble?
Perhaps it is too soon to unfold that discussion.
It’s easy to forget that Redick this season has led Los Angeles to a second-consecutive 5o-win season. For all its storied history, the franchise hasn’t had back-to-back 50-win seasons since 2011. Redick deserves his kudos.
He also ought to be recognized for correcting the once clunky fit between Doncic, Reaves and LeBron James. As recently as a few months ago, there was rampant speculation over whether the three stars could make it work together. From the start of February up until Doncic and Reaves went down last week, the fit appeared harmonious.
L.A. is likely going to finish this season losing in the first round of the playoffs, but many will argue that outcome shouldn’t impact Redick’s standing with the franchise.
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