JJ Redick

In Less Than Year, Lakers Land New Coach, New Superstar, & New Owner

June 20, 2025 by LakerTom 17 Comments

In less than a year, the Lakers pulled off an extreme franchise makeover, adding a new head coach of the future in JJ Redick, a new superstar of the future in Luka Doncic, and a new owner of the future in Mark Walter.

The Lakers extreme new makeover started one year ago next Tuesday when the team hired JJ Redick to be their head coach of the future. We didn’t know it then but that was Jeanie’s first public transition move. Jeanie’s true first transition move came back in 2021 when Mark Walter purchased Philip Anschutz’s 26% minority share of the Lakers and was awarded first right of refusal should the Busses decide to sell the team.

What’s obvious in retrospect is Jeanie Buss has just given the professional sports industry a master class in how an owner of a legacy franchise like the Lakers should handle the sale of the team to a new ownership group.
Jeanie Buss choreographed the hiring of JJ Redick as the team’s head coach of the future, the blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic to be their superstar of the future, and now the sale to Mark Walter, their new owner of the future.

Jeanie Buss negotiated the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion. That’s $4 billion more than was paid for the Boston Celtics a few months ago, making it the biggest sales price in history for a pro sports franchise.
More importantly, Jeanie leaves the Lakers with a dynamic new young head coach, a elite new young top-3 megastar point guard, and a proven new young owner committed to building teams and winning the right way.

As the NBA undergoes a chaotic changing of the guard with new teams and superstar vying to take over the league, Jeanie Buss has done a masterful job as trustee of the Lakers in choreographing the franchise’s transition.

What New Owner Means for Rob Pelinka & JJ Redick?

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While Jeanie is staying as governor during the transition, the days of running the Lakers like a small-time family business on a shoestring are over and Pelinka and Redick will be held accountable for their jobs.

Using the Dodgers’ turnaround since being bought by TWG Global as a guide, Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick can expect to be given a fair opportunity and every possible tool or benefit to help them best perform their jobs.
Mark Walter has been a minority partner since 2021 so he’s been intimately involved in all the Lakers have been doing, which is why he is comfortable with Jeanie Buss remaining as the team’s governor during the transition.

But Walter clearly plans to follow the same blueprint he used to rebuild the entire Dodgers’ organization, which means Pelinka and Redick will finally be held accountable to a championship standard for their performances.
While Walter won’t be able to buy an NBA championship by overpaying players, he will certainly pour finances and resources into every aspect of running the Lakers from player development to analytics to training.

Rob Pelinka will be under heavy scrutiny and will likely see his front office team dramatically expanded. There won’t be any excuses accepted if the Lakers start the NBA season without a legitimate starting quality center.
Same for JJ Redick. He may be a rookie coach but he will be given every opportunity to show he has the chops to become a great NBA coach. In the end, JJ needs to grow up, develop quickly, and, most importantly, win.

Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick will enter the 2025–26 NBA season secure in their positions but also clearly aware that they would be held to very high performance standards, for which they will be personally accountable.

What New Owner Means for LeBron James & Austin Reaves

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On the surface, one of the reasons Mark Walter wants Jeanie Buss to remain governor during the transition is to insure that the team continues the strong personal relationships with LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

Since Walter is already a minority owner, he’s likely up-to-date on what the Lakers are planning with respect to LeBron James and his player option and with respect to Austin Reaves and the continuing trade rumors.
Could the sale to Walter motivate LeBron James to play for more than just one more season? Could Walter veto Reaves untouchable status and use him to make an offer to Utah for Walker Kessler the Jazz cannot refuse?

While having a rich owner still won’t allow you to exceed the second apron, expect Mark Walter to dramatically raise the bar on what is acceptable to be a Lakers player. Count on better scouting, analytics, and development.
What you won’t see is a Lakers team where critical roster needs like a shot blocking center to protect the rim gets kicked down the road and ignored for multiple seasons. Accountability is how you win championships.

How the Lakers address the LeBron situation will be interesting. Do they want LeBron to play more seasons or would they prefer that next season be his farewell tour season so they can plan how to move on from the King?
Could the Lakers decide the smart move was to trade Austin Reaves now in an attempt to get Walker Kessler or move him to the bench to open up a starting role for a defense-first point-of-attack defender like Marcus Smart.

Mark Walter will probably allow Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick to proceed with their previously planned strategy this summer but if the Lakers are not playing championship basketball, expect major changes at the deadline.

What’s next for Lakers? First-round exit starts clock on long-term plan after Luka Dončić trade

May 1, 2025 by LakerTom 4 Comments

The Los Angeles Lakers showed their hand all the way back on Feb. 8. That is when they elected not to complete their second major trade of deadline season, the Mark Williams acquisition, because of concerns raised during his physical. If their goal was strictly to compete for the 2025 NBA championship, they would have made the trade with Charlotte anyway. As flawed as Williams might be, not having him is probably the single biggest reason the Lakers just lost their first-round series to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Forget about how badly they needed a center, specifically. JJ Redick was so low on his bench that he became the first head coach in tracking era history to ever use the same five-man lineup across a full half of a playoff game in Game 4. He trusted five players so he used five players. He just needed one more good, usable player.

The Lakers knew how thin this roster was in February. That’s why they rushed to grab Williams in the first place. But his medical concerns forced them to make a choice. The deadline had passed. They had no other way of adding an impact player. They could take Williams, go for it now and worry about the future, or they could punt 2025, hold the assets and try again later. They had to choose their priority: present or future.

That choice was obscured by their early success with Luka Dončić. For a minute there, it really looked like the Lakers could have made a deep playoff run without sacrificing the chips they might need for the offseason. The Timberwolves reminded us why that was never really plausible. The regular season is about strength and the playoffs are about weaknesses. Remaking your entire roster on the fly in February makes it almost impossible to cover up those weaknesses by the time April and May roll around. Maybe the Lakers could have done it if they’d prioritized the present. But they didn’t. They expressly chose the future.

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Lakers Bet On Lights-Out Shooting And Aggressive Small Ball Defense

April 17, 2025 by LakerTom 5 Comments

Redick’s surprise late-season gamble to transform the Lakers’ offense into a volume 3-point shooting juggernaut and their defense into a trapping and swarming small ball attack paid off big as L.A. won 50 games and #3 seed.

The dramatic changes allowed the Lakers to win 50 games, the #3 seed in the West, and what is generally considered to be a very favorable possible path to the NBA Finals, especially considering the West is so challenging. JJ’s timing was perfect. Luka transformed L.A.’s offense into a 3-point juggernaut while their LeBron-powered aggressive swarming, trapping small ball defense held 3 elite teams under 100 points to close the season.

Once the dust settled after their 8-game run, the Lakers had done the unthinkable and actually transformed themselves into a 3-point offensive juggernaut that was taking and making 5 more 3-point shots per game.
With a healthy, better conditioned Luka Doncic running the offense and a healthy, repurposed LeBron James choreographing their swarming small ball defense, the Lakers finished the regular season as a playoff nightmare.

Before their stretch run, the Lakers were making 0.6 fewer 3PM per game for a negative differential of -1.8 points per game. During the run, L.A. made 3.2 more 3PM per game for a positive differential of +9.6 points. Redick’s smart decision to go all-in on volume 3-point shooting and aggressive small ball defense was a recognition the only realistic way L.A. could win the NBA championship was to win the 3-point war with Boston.

Let’s look closer at the Lakers’ dramatic stretch run to lock up 50 wins and the #3 seed in the West and whether their juggernaut 3-point shooting and swarming rotating small ball defense will be sustainable in the playoffs.

Lakers’ Offense Leads NBA in Made Threes Down Stretch

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The Lakers started their 8-game stretch run with a 44–29 record and #4 seed in the West but facing the league’s toughest closing schedule with critical pairs of games vs. the #1 OKC Thunder and #2 Houston Rockets.

The 2024–25 regular season had been a constant roller coaster for the Lakers as untimely injuries to James, Davis, and Doncic and trades for Finney-Smith and Doncic roiled their roster and disrupted their season.
Despite the changes and setbacks, Redick remained committed to fully modernizing the Lakers’ old school offense, embracing the 3-point era, and committing the team to taking and making a high volume of threes.

Over the Lakers’ next 8-games, L.A. went all-in on becoming the NBA’s hottest and most potent offensive juggernaut led by a dynamic playmaking and scoring Big Three of Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves.
Before their stretch run, the Lakers offense was 14th (114.3), defense 14th (113.6), and net rating 14th (+0.7). During their stretch run, their offense was 1st in the NBA (124.6), defense 15th (114.4), and net rating 7th (+10.2).

During their 8-game stretch run, the Lakers raised their 3PM from 12.9 to 17.5 per game, their 3PA from 35.9 to 41.3 per game, and their 3P% from 36.0% to 41.4%, creating a positive +9.6 points 3-point shooting differential.
While a small sample size, the eye test confirmed advanced stats. Anybody watching could see Luka was creating waves of wide-open 3-point shots for the Lakers. L.A.’s +10.2 net rating was due to their 3-point differential.

The Lakers have the playmakers and dead-eye shooters to prove their sizzling 3-point shooting was not just a hot streak but a replicable outcome of the elite pacing and spacing they can sustain throughout the playoffs.

Lakers’ Swarming Small Ball Defense Shuts Down Stars

LAKERS 8-GAME REGULAR SEASON STRETCH RUN

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While it was the Lakers’ juggernaut 3-point shooting that propelled them to a 50-win season and #3 seed in the West, the Lakers also had opportunities to showcase their swarming small ball defense during their stretch run.

The first opponent the Lakers held under 100 points down the stretch was the #2 seed Houston Rockets, whom the Lakers beat 104–98, holding them defensively to 41.6% from the field and 31.3% from deep in a close game.
The Lakers held Rockets’ guards Jalen Green and Fred Van Fleet to single digits and Houston big men Alperen Sengun and Dillon Brooks to 16 and 14 points. The Lakers aggressive small ball team defense shut Rockets down.

The Lakers’ best defensive effort was their 126–99 stomping of the #1 seed Thunder in OKC, where the Lakers aggressive trapping small ball defense held the Thunder to just 43.3% from the field and just 32.4% from deep.
The Thunder’s loss was biggest of the season. The Lakers shut down OKC’s interior and perimeter offense and dominated them offensively, winning the 3-point war by 30 points and raising serious questions about OKC.

The third opponent the Lakers held below 100 points down the stretch was the Mavericks in Luka Doncic’s first return to Dallas after the big trade, where the Lakers proceeded to throttle AD and the Mavericks 112–97.
The Lakers not only had Luka’s back as he dominated the game, scoring 31 in the first half and 45 for the full game. They also shut down the Mavs’ offense and held Anthony Davis to just 13 points on 5 of 13 shooting.

Like with their offense, the Lakers have finally have their full defense available, including the 4 big wing defenders in Vanderbilt, Hachimura, Finney-Smith, and James, who are the fire that makes their defense run.

Lakers-Thunder Mini-Series in OKC Could Be West Finals Sneak Preview

April 5, 2025 by LakerTom 3 Comments

The Sunday and Tuesday mini-series in OKC between the superstar-driven Lakers and the deep young juggernaut Thunder promises to be a live sneak preview of a possible Western Conference Finals between the two teams.

With just five games left in the regular season, the Lakers face a daunting trial by fire that could catapult them up to #2 seed in the West if they win out or see them plummet into the Play-In if the lose 4 or 5 of the games. That 3 of their remaining 5 games include 2 road games against the #1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder and a home game against the #2 seed Houston Rockets only make the Lakers’ remaining games even more challenging.

Sunday afternoon’s first game of the mini-series should give us a first indication how the LeBron James and Luka Doncic led Lakers matchup with the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen William driven Thunder.
Statistically, the Thunder are a different tier of NBA teams than the Lakers. While the L.A. has had the #13 ranked offense and defense since trading for Luka Doncic on February 1, OKC had the #1 offense and defense.

Fortunately for L.A., the game is not played on paper and the Lakers and LeBron James have the firsthand experience and confidence you only get from actually winning championships, which the Thunder still do not.
The mini-series in OKC should be the two biggest games of the year for both teams and a fascinating sneak preview of what we might see if the Lakers and Thunder end up meeting in the Western Conference Finals.

So let’s review the Lakers-Thunder matchup, what each team’s advantages and disadvantages are, what each team must do to sweep the mini-series, and what the impact will be should the two teams meet in the playoffs

WHY LAKERS SHOULD SWEEP TWO-GAME MINI-SERIES

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The 2 road games tomorrow and Tuesday night against the Thunder have unfortunately become ‘must win’ games for the Lakers, who are looking to hold the #3 seed in the West despite a tough 5-game closing schedule.

While the Lakers desperately need to win their last 5 games to hold the #3 seed, the 54-win Thunder no longer have a shot at 60 wins or any pressing motivation to beat the Lakers other than pride and getting a mental edge.
Despite the Lakers desperately needing to win and the Thunder not, OKC has been so dominant in the West throughout this season that they have been installed as close to 10-point favorites to win Saturday’s first game.

In a perfect world, the Lakers would prefer to keep their playoff plans close to the vest instead of having to go all-in late in the regular season to win two critical games against the Thunder with every weapon in their arsenal.
Instead, the Lakers need to come with a greater urgency than any other time this season. They need their Big Three of James, Doncic, and Reaves to have a juggernaut night and their key role players to have career games.

While the Thunder have maybe the deepest and most talented roster in the league, they have not actually experienced how to win championships the way that LeBron James has. They may very well still be a year away.
A healthy LeBron James and Luka Doncic will be an excellent challenge for the young, inexperienced Thunder to use as pre-playoff measuring stick. It will be interesting to see if JJ Redick can outcoach OKC’s Mark Daigneault.

In the end, the Lakers will count on the iconic basketball skills, IQ’s, experience, and leadership of their generational superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic to overcome the young, playoff inexperienced Thunder.

Five Changes Redick Must Make For Lakers To Steal NBA Championship

March 30, 2025 by LakerTom 6 Comments

If the Lakers want to legitimately compete for the NBA championship this season, rookie head coach JJ Redick needs to quickly figure out how to fix the Lakers’ broken offense and defense in time to excel in the playoffs.

Offensively, the Lakers were expected to be an immediate juggernaut with a starting Big Three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves. The challenge for the Lakers was supposed to be defensively, not offensively. During the two months from January 6 to March 6, half of which included Anthony Davis and half Luka Doncic, the Lakers posted a solid 116.4 OffRtg (#11), a league-best 109.3 DefRtg (#1), and a top-five +7.1 NetRtg (#5).

Then LeBron was injured against the Celtics on March 8th and the Lakers proceeded to lose 8 of their next 12 games before rebounding against the Grizzlies last night, going from 40–21 and 2nd in West to 45–29 and 4th.
During the last 13 games, which included 8 games LeBron James missed, 4 where he struggled, and the last one where he appeared to be himself, the Lakers posted 114.5 OffRtg (#16), 119.6 DefRtg (#21), and -5.1 NetRtg (#22).

The Lakers’ struggles at both ends during the 12 games where James was either out or struggling to come back raised questions whether the team’s two-month reign as the league’s #11 offense and #1 defense was a mirage.
Critics claimed the energy and effort the Lakers were making on defense was not sustainable and noted that, even with LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves, the Lakers were still just a middle-of-the-pack offense.

The big challenge facing Lakers’ rookie head coach JJ Redick right now is how to fix the team’s broken offense and defense. Here are the five major changes Redick must make for Lakers to steal the NBA championship.

1. Get LeBron James 100% Healthy For Playoffs

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The most important change the Lakers will need to win in the playoffs is a healthy LeBron James. While players are never 100% after the grind of the regular season, L.A.’s offense and defense needs a healthy LeBron James

While the Lakers obviously struggled during the 8 games James missed and the 4 games where he was still trying to get into game condition, his play last night against the Grizzlies was hopefully a sign the King is almost back.
While LeBron’s points dropped, he’s kept his boards and assists during this stretch. Problem was shooting (3 of 24 from deep for 12.5%) and advanced stats, where he went from solid 113.4/107.6/+5.8 to poor 112.7/123.8/-11.1.

Redick had found the perfect formula for how to transform a Lakers’ starting lineup with Doncic, James, and Reaves into the NBA’s #11 offense and #1 defense by having LeBron replace AD as team defensive captain.
While the team’s schedule was brutal and they missed other players like Rui Hachimura, it was the injury to LeBron, who was making everything work, that derailed a dangerous Lakers’ juggernaut that nobody wanted to face.

That’s why the Lakers need to continue to prioritize playoff health over playoff seeding. They still have the second toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, with two more pairs of roster-breaking back-to-back games.
The Lakers need to ignore whatever seeding drama is going on in the Wild West and commit to making sure that LeBron James is as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs, even if it means resting him down the stretch.

While the Los Angeles Lakers do need to win enough games to stay out of the Play-In Tourney, LeBron James’ playoff health is far more important than the Western Conference playoff seed Los Angeles ends up winning.

2. Optimize Minutes Luka & LeBron Play Together

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JJ Redick’s second most important change will be to optimize the minutes on the court together of two of the smartest and greatest iconic point guards in the history of the NBA in LeBron James and Luka Doncic.

In 26-year old Luka Doncic and 40-year old LeBron James, JJ has two of the smartest and greatest point guards to ever play the game of basketball and needs to decide when to play them together and when to stagger them.
That Doncic is literally a younger clone of the 40-year old James and both are at their best when ball dominant seems to call for staggering them to avoid redundancy and make sure one superstar is on court all the time.

But two factors are pushing JJ to play James and Doncic together. The first is the offense/defense balance JJ wants in every lineup. While they’re clones offensively, LeBron can be a legitimate superstar defensively.
The second factor is the one tantalizing play between LeBron James and Luka Doncic that Lakers’ coach JJ Redick has deliberately not shown yet: the potentially unstoppable Luke Doncic and LeBron James pick-and-roll.

While the sample size is statistically small, superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic have played a total of 367 minutes in 15 regular season games during which they posted a 111.6 OffRtg, 114.1 DefRtg, and -2.5 NetRtg.
Redick clearly needs to figure out how to get the LeBron and Luka lineups to be the juggernauts they should. If that means not having one of them on the court all the time, the Lakers are lucky they can rely on Austin Reaves.

The Lakers need to optimize the minutes their best two players LeBron James and Luka Doncic play together even if it means relying on Austin Reaves to carry the load alone when the two superstars are on the bench.

3. Limit Minutes Lakers’ Big Three Play Together

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Figuring out how to best deploy and take advantage of the Lakers’ Big Three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves is JJ Redick’s next most important move to get the Lakers playing like NBA champions.

Simply stated, there’s a strong argument that teams with three stars would be smart to prioritize having two of their three stars on the court together for 48 minutes of every game rather than playing all three stars together.
Playing three ball-dominant offense-first players on court together when there is only one basketball is not a formula for playing efficient offense or for building a balanced lineups that can defend as well as score the ball.

The big question after the Lakers’ blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic was whether a starting lineup with three elite offense-first players in Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves could win the championship.
JJ Redick’s major change to improve the Lakers’ starting lineup’s defense was to turn over running the offense to Luka Doncic so LeBron James would be free to replace Anthony Davis as the team’s defensive captain.

While the sample size is small, the Lakers’ Big Three of James, Doncic, and Reaves have so far played a total of 247 minutes in 13 regular season games during which they posted a 113.4 OffRtg, 119.4 DefRtg, and -6.1 NetRtg.
The Lakers would get better balance productivity by limiting minutes by the Big Three together and instead making sure LeBron and Luka, LeBron and Austin, or Luka and Austin are on court all 48 minutes of every game.

Redick would be smart to limit minutes on court together by the Lakers’ Big Three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves to the start of each half and prioritize having two of three stars on the court at all times.

4. Convert Jemison & Koloko As Backup Center

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Size matters and the Lakers’ lack of a trusted backup center for Jaxson Hayes is one of their greatest vulnerabilities. The Lakers need to convert Trey Jemison’s and Christian Koloko’s two-way to standard contracts.

The lack of a proven backup center has been a major problem for the Lakers for several seasons. The decision to rescind the trade for Mark Williams left the Lakers seriously undermanned at the center position.
While Jaxson Hayes has stepped up to become one of the team’s best role players, the team has struggled whenever he has to go the bench to rest and Redick has been hesitant to utilize two-way centers Jemison and Koloko.

The result has been a mixed bag of weird small ball lineups with James, Vanderbilt, or Finney-Smith at the five that have struggled to win games or fans’ hearts at opposing teams dominate them in the post and off the glass.
The Laker would be smart to waive center Alex Len and shooting guard Shake Milton and sign two-way centers Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko to standard NBA contracts so they would become eligible for the playoffs.

Jemison and Koloko provide complete different but needed center skillsets. Trey Jemison is more of a traditional big body bruiser center who’s not afraid to bang with anybody or defend any teammate that’s being abused.
Christian Koloko, on the other hand, is more of a lob dunk threat like Jaxson Hayes. What he does bring to the table that Jemison does not is the ability to be a great lob dunk threat, especially playing with Luka Doncic.

The Lakers converted two-way guard Jordan Goodwin to a standard NBA contract so he’ll be eligible for the 2025 playoffs. They should do the same for Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko to add desperately needed size.

5. Run More Plays & Less Freelancing On Offense

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One of the major challenges for NBA coaches with superstars like LeBron James and Luka Doncic on their roster is convincing the team to run more efficient set plays rather than just allowing the superstars to freelance.

NBA analysts following the Lakers believe Los Angeles scores more points per possession running set plays than allowing the team’s superstars to freelance, which often leads to isolation play and slower ball movement.
There’s no question there have been times when the Lakers offense seems to go into a funk where they just cannot generate a high percentage shot. Those are the times when it makes sense to have the team run a set play.

One of the benefits of Luka Doncic taking over control of the ball and the Lakers’ offense is we’re likely to see the team run more pick-and-roll plays and specific plays designed to get easy lob dunks and open 3-point shots.
With James focusing on playing more off the ball on offense and taking on the responsibility of replacing Anthony Davis as the Lakers’ defensive captain, look for Redick to increase the percentage of set plays to be run.

The NBA is a matchup league and teams not only need diverse players with the skill sets to match up against different opponents but also diverse play calls that can work against different types of defenses they will face.
Balancing running set plays specifically designed to work against specific’s opponents’ weaknesses with trusting the world’s greatest athletes to make the right read and right call in on-court chaos is often very difficult to do.

While the Laker have two of the best playmaking point guards in the history of the NBA in LeBron James and Luka Doncic, they’d be smart to run set plays involving all five players than letting their stars freelance.