It’s a busy season for the Los Angeles Lakers as they look to secure LeBron James‘ future and replace Darvin Ham, although the players do not seem to be too keen on J.J Redick who was thought to be a shoo-in for the vacant post until this week.
Redick basically had his name penned to the historic franchise as the broadcaster and podcaster seemed set to try his hand at coaching professional basketball, but now he seems to have fallen rapidly out of favor.
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Now it’s the University of Connecticut Huskies’ Dan Hurley who now leads the race, with his lack of arrogance compared to Redick reportedly being his best asset at the moment after Redick was already asking people to be his assistant coach.
“I think a key part of this, based on people that I talk with in the industry,” John Fanta told the Zach Gelb Show. “Is that at a certain point, a Lakers player or two or three, not named LeBron James, said, you know, ‘I like JJ Redick, but I don’t know if I love this smartest guy in the room.’
“I think that that thing caused Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss to reopen the door, and all of a sudden when they started to ask again about Hurley, what was, ah, he’s mildly interested became, he’s interested, and he wants to talk.”
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It seemed as though LeBron James was the driving force behind Redick‘s links, or so some media personalities reported, but now the sound of the rest of the locker room might be drowning out the 39-year-old’s voice.
Anthony Davis and Magic Johnson both gave Hurley their nods for the job, and their combined voice might actually carry greater noise than James’ as he begins to enter the twilight phase of his career.
“I’m so excited and thrilled,” Johnson said online of the Hurley links. “This would be a game changer for the Lakers organization, LeBron, AD, the rest of the Laker players, Laker Nation and the NBA! Coach Hurley can coach his butt off.
“I want the coach to be Hurley. If we sign him I think it works for both. It works for Coach Hurley… He’s great with offense and defensive strategy, and he’s tough.”
