Featured Columnist IVMay 23, 2024
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Being a star player comes with perks, and the stars of the Los Angeles Lakers will reportedly have a say in the franchise’s search for the next head coach.
Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that LeBron James and Anthony Davis “will need to sign off on the coaching hire. It’s a practice that’s widely accepted around the NBA, star players operating more as stakeholders than employees when it comes to finding a partner to work from the bench.”
The James note is particularly interesting, as he is under no obligation to be with the Lakers next season.
After all, he has a player option for the 2024-25 campaign and could choose to sign elsewhere if he wanted. That the Lakers would want to hire a coach he is open to under such circumstances comes as no surprise, as they surely prefer the King to return and lead a Western Conference playoff run.
Jovan Buha and Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Tuesday that Los Angeles already met with JJ Redick, Boston Celtics assistant Sam Cassell and New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego with plans to interview Denver Nuggets assistant David Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori and Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn.
While Woike noted James and Davis will “need to sign off” on the hire, Charania reported that the former won’t be overly involved in the search process:
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“I’m told LeBron James is not involved in the Lakers head coaching search…James has made it clear that this is the organization’s decision, he’s had no conversions with the Lakers about JJ Redick.”@ShamsCharania on the #Lakers coaching search pic.twitter.com/4YbscRYII7
That Redick is a candidate is notable outside of the reality he has never been a head coach in the league. There is an established relationship already in place with James considering they co-host the Mind The Game podcast together.
Being his head coach would surely change the nature of Redick’s relationship with James to a degree, but it’s also not difficult to envision the future Hall of Famer signing off on his hiring.
The Lakers will once again be in championship-or-bust mode next season regardless of who they hire as head coach, assuming James returns. Any team with James and Davis taking the floor, especially at this point of their respective careers, will be in win-now mode and not focusing as much on the future.
It will be a pressure-packed position with plenty of expectations, but at least the coach will start the new season knowing James and Davis approved of the hire.
