Getty LeBron James hugging Rajon Rondo.
The Los Angeles Lakers‘ head coaching search is heating up and JJ Redick appears to be the early front-runner. Redick played 15 seasons in the NBA but has never coached at the professional level.
However, he’s a respected basketball mind and LeBron James clearly likes him as the two are hosting a podcast together. While Redick will likely be a coach at some point, former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce believes there’s another former player who makes more sense for the job. The Hall of Famer wants to see his former teammate Rajon Rondo get the head job in Los Angeles.
“If you going to talk about JJ Redick, I’d rather have Rajon Rondo,” Pierce said on the May 21 episode of “UNDISPUTED.” “I know LeBron respects Rajon on that same level of basketball IQ and I’ve heard him say that.”
Rondo was a four-time All-Star as a player and won two championships, including one with the Lakers in 2020. He knows the team well and has a good relationship with James and Anthony Davis. He hasn’t shown much interest in coaching and this might be the right time for him to take that step but he could be an interesting coaching candidate to watch in the future.
.@PaulPierce34 would like to see Rajon Rondo as the Lakers HC 👀
LeBron James Has Said Rajon Rondo Should Be a Coach
As Pierce alluded to, James is high on Rondo’s basketball IQ. Redick actually asked James who is a former teammate of his that he could see having success as a coach.
“Rajon Rondo for sure,” James said on the March 19 episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast. “He can process, flip, do things on the go like that. It is very weird to me that he is not coaching at a high level. I think it is because he doesn’t want to do it. It is a lot and who wants to deal with all these rich and entitled guys all the time.”
For his part, Rondo doesn’t seem to be in a rush to join the coaching ranks.
“I’m just waiting on Bron to buy that team in Vegas,” Rondo told Rachel Nichols of Showtime in a March 25 interview.
Rondo is only 30 years old so there’s no reason to rush into coaching right now. He could also start out as an assistant if he doesn’t feel like he’s ready to be the man in charge.
Would JJ Redick or Rajon Rondo Be a Better Fit?
As of right now, Redick seems to make more sense for the Lakers. He’s been more involved in basketball lately and has interviewed for other coaching jobs in the past. Rondo hasn’t even dipped his toes into the coaching pool yet.
Neither have done enough to prove that they deserve head coaching jobs yet, but teams are looking to take big swings hoping to find the next Steve Kerr.
A recent example, Steve Nash, failed with the Durant-Harden-Irving Brooklyn Nets — going 94-67 with two early playoff exits before parting ways in November 2022 — and he’s considered one of the smartest basketball players ever.
There are a lot of risk in hiring former players with no formal coaching experience, but the Lakers don’t have a ton of great options heading into 2024.