JJ Redick 2025 Lakers Media Day Interview | September 29, 2025

JJ Redick 2025 Lakers Media Day Interview | September 29, 2025

Right now we have the coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, Ally, coming off a 50 win season in his rookie campaign. Coach, welcome. JJ Reic, thank you so much for being here. Always appreciate your time. I’m excited to be with you guys and I’m I’m I’m excited for for this media day cuz it it just for me personally, it feels a little bit different than last year’s media day. You know what’s so funny, coach? You kind of leave me in my first thing. We we were thinking about it. We heard you last Thursday uh when you and Rob had that press conference and you talked about the slowing down after the season getting a chance to breathe and decompress and kind of take in a self assessment as you will for about four to 5 weeks. What did you learn about yourself and what are your tips? Um you know I I I think for me it’s it’s all goes back to just having a growth mindset and trying to be better. There was a lot of things that I thought I did really well my my first year of of coaching and then there were some things that I I knew I needed to improve on. Um, and so taking the time to just journal, talk with my performance coach, get feedback from my players, get feedback from my coaches, get feedback from some of my mentors, and then spend the rest of the summer kind of using all of that to prepare for this season. When it comes to the expectations that you have laid out for the team from top to bottom, starting with your two superstars and the next step of growth for the two of them, what does that vision look like? Yeah. I mean, if LeBron’s still growing in year 23, uh, that’d be great for us. No, I I I think having a full preseason together, um, Luca came in at a really weird time for him, uh, both being injured and kind of the shock of the trade. So, having time to just integrate those two guys together, having time to integrate AR with them, um, that’s kind of what you’re you’re looking for as a coach. last year because of the trade, because of Luca’s injury, and then because of our schedule in March, I mean, we were just peacemealing things uh one by one. So, you know, the the the camp, you know, we have three days starting tomorrow. We play a couple games and then we have another full week. Um we we have for for the current NBA, you and I, we used to have 30-day camps for two days. We don’t have anymore, but for the current NBA, that’s a lot of time to be together and sort of lay the foundation of who we want to be. You talk about the the the passion of the torch, you know, uh uh Michael to to to Kobe, Kobe to LeBron. Now you got LeBron possibly to Luca on the same team. That’s got to be a big advantage having those guys side by side. Uh Luca learning from LeBron. Talk about that. Well, just I I think it’s an incredible opportunity for both of them. Uh Luca makes LeBron’s job easier uh at the at the later stages of his career. Uh, and then Luca gets to learn from from LeBron. And I I I thought the two of them were terrific last year. Uh, we really got into it sort of mid-March, you know, just in terms of building our dialogue and our trust uh with all those guys, including AR. Um, so I think there’s going to be unlike last year, there’s going to be a continuation of that partnership. JJ, when you did the self assessment, I I know I’m going back to that. It kind of just hit me when you were talking. Were you able to separate kind of the regular season where the Lakers were a top five team, third in the West, you get to 50 wins from the series? I know it was a disappointing first round series. Yeah, it was. And and and truthfully, I I just I’ll share this with you. Uh my biggest regret from the Minnesota series was our preparation leading into the series. Um and there was a lot of discussion with our coaching staff and ultimately I have to make the decision about what that week looks like of practice. Um, and it’s I said this after game one, we weren’t physically ready to play. And and some of that was because of our March schedule. Some of that was because of some injuries, but I’ve got to do a better job going into a series of making sure they’re physically ready to play. Um, and then you sort of dissect every game. You know, what could I have done better this game? What could I have done better that game? Uh, another regret from that series, we I fundamentally don’t believe in putting two on the basketball. That’s just why are you giving the offense an advantage? Like you’re you’re creating advantage. So, you know, our our our foundation of our defense last year was a team defense based on shifts, based on a low man, uh based on elite presentation. Uh game five, we started small and we blitzed Anthony Edwards and they killed us in the first half on the offensive glass and I eventually took that off, but I didn’t put my team in a great spot because I made that decision to start game five. How long did you spend reflecting? You know this man, right? I think he did say four to six weeks. I do remember that from Thursday. You also mentioned to me that training camp will be a lot about habits. So, what do those habits look like in terms of the style for which you want to play based off the the roster that you have right now? Yeah. I I think the biggest thing um for me is is I I I call it first action. Okay. So, we place a heavy emphasis on throwing the basketball ahead. Uh we’ve got to do a better job of when we throw the ball ahead and we don’t create an initial advantage of getting the ball back to our primary ball handler and getting into our first action. Uh you look across the lead league at like PPP and the teams that consistently get to their first action quicker, they have a higher rate uh of of offensive success. So it really is it’s it’s about throwing the basketball ahead. Maybe you don’t get a throw ahead, but that first action should should be happening at 18 19 seconds on the clock versus 11 or 12 on the clock. You can go down memory lane a little bit. I remember when Phil Jackson brought Ron Harper in here to to learn the triangle a little bit, but also a veteran that knows the locker room, knows how to speak to younger players and veteran players. Marcus Smart, talk about an advantage he will be on and off the court. Yeah, he I I told him this when I when I recruited him to to come to be a Laker. Uh and I’ I’ve told him this throughout the preseason in our meetings together. His voice is going to be really important for us. Um he has the respect of the locker room because of everything that he’s done in his career and the way that he plays this game uh and how hard he plays. He also has the respect in the locker room because he’s he’s been in deep playoff runs and he’s had a chance to play in the NBA finals. Uh, so his his experience, his voice, his natural just energy, uh, is going to be massive for our team. You hung out with two other psychos, uh, Sean McVey and Tom Brady this summer a little bit. Got some time with them. Can you share some of that and just what you learned? Look, I think with Sean, it was a great day and we have talked uh throughout the last year and change since I got this job. Um, but I I I be honest, I learned a lot. Uh, and there’s certain things that I took from watching them practice that I am going to incorporate in how we practice. I know there’s different sports. No, we will not be tackling each other. Um, but uh, you know, just as far as that the habit thing that you brought up, the the attention to detail, the execution, um, I feel like our group can be better than we were last year in the way we practice. Um, and then with Tom, I I think just picking his brain on leadership uh, was really really insightful. Um, you know, I I take notes on everything. Uh, and I I shared some of the stuff with some of my coaching staff. And I think for all of us, we just had our coaches retreat last week uh in in Utah. Uh, seeing Nate McMillan, Bob Buyer, and Scotty Brooks on a on an ATV was a sight to behold. That’s awesome. Yeah, it was fun. But one of the things I challenged all of our coaches on is like we all get to lead. Um, that’s part of our job as coaches. I’ve told my team this last year, I’ll tell them again this year. every player gets the opportunity to lead. Leadership is not a one-man thing. Um, and so our our staff really has has embraced that and will continue to embrace leadership. One final that I want to touch on. I I remember you sitting before the press conference a year ago and the emotions to take on this next journey or step of your career around this game to get the contract extension, which congratulations. Um, what did that just mean to you even from just like a human level standpoint and your love for this game? Yeah, it’s funny. I I’m currently on the longest contract I’ve ever had in my life. You know, I never had You never I I think as a player, I only signed one four-year guaranteed contract. So, like, you know, to to have a four-year guaranteed contract as a coach and then get an extension after the first year, like you you have a level of just security, uh, which is important. Um, but I also, it goes back to the interview process, the first few days on the job with Rob and and with Jeie. Um, we had talked about a partnership between the coaching front office ownership and the only way for the Lakers to to achieve the level of sustained success that they’ve had um in the past to have that now in today’s NBA. It’s got to require a partnership. So, their belief in me to continue to participate in that partnership was huge. Before we let you go, you know what’s really important? Youth basketball. How are the teams doing? What’s that’s knocking Knox and Kai had their first travel games this past weekend. Kai was first. Uh he had 19 points, seven steals. He had three threes in a row in the second half. Got a heat check off. Missed it a little left, but I appreciated the heat check. And then Knox was the ultimate floor general. Had 15.7 assists. Got his team to win. The seven steel stands out by the way to me. Me too. Well, you know, we talk a lot about Banshee culture and and I’ve had I’ve had some of my coaches watch them play and I’m proud to say both my boys are banshees. They’re banshees. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much, JJ. We’ll be talking during train.

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