"He's a basketball genius" — Austin Reaves reveals JJ Redick reaching out to him after nabbing Lakers head coach gig
After a relatively lengthy search for their newest head coach, the LA Lakers finally landed on JJ Redick as the man for the job. While this hiring has been somewhat divisive among the observers, Redick got a vote of approval from Lakers rising star Austin Reaves.
Reaves shared his approval for his newest head coach in an interview with sports anchor Cierra Clark. Clark then shared the interview to her account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Here is what Reaves had to say about the Lakers' newest head coach.
"Yeah, I've gotten to know JJ [Redick] a little bit going on his podcast during the middle of the year," Reaves said. "He's a basketball genius I think as everybody knows. I think he's gonna make a good coach, and I can't wait to get to work with him. He actually texted me yesterday and wanted to get on a call. Like I said, I just can't wait to put our brains together and have a good year."
JJ Redick's first season with the LA Lakers will be closely observed, as it will be his first official gig as a head coach, not only in the pros, but in his basketball career.
His first season as an NBA head coach also places him in what is possibly one of the toughest jobs in the sport. The Lakers front office has shown that they can be quite impatient with their head coaches if they fail to win immediately.
Also read: "If you don't kill it you ain't eating it" — Emmanuel Acho slams Lakers for hiring JJ Redick with Steve Nash analogy
JJ Redick will be Austin Reaves' third NBA head coach
Austin Reaves has only been in the NBA since the 2021-22 season, but he has already experienced a lot of changes. He's only played for the Lakers during that time, but the team around him has changed due to a quick turnover both in the roster and with the coaches he's had.
When he signed a two-way contract in 2021 as an undrafted, unrestricted free agent, the team was being coached by Frank Vogel, who was in his third year as the team's coach. The Lakers finished the season with a 33-49 record, with Reaves averaging 7.3 points in 61 games played.
Vogel was fired and replaced by Darvin Ham after that season, and in Ham's first year as coach (2022-23), Reaves upped his scoring to 13.0 points per game on an efficient 52.9 field-goal percentage.
Reaves continued to show some promise in his third NBA season, as he increased his scoring to 15.9 points while also suffering a slight dropoff in his scoring efficiency (48.6%).
With Redick now replacing Ham, Reaves is set to play for his third head coach in just four seasons.
Reaves' comments give some reason for optimism that he can continue to improve under Redick.