The Los Angeles Lakers are in disarray as they deal with injuries to starting players, and head coach JJ Redick was not happy with what he saw from the available players in their latest game.
The team is currently in the home stretch of the regular season, with only a handful of games remaining to try to reclaim the No. 3 seed they had been holding onto in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, Tuesday night brought a tough matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, without three of the Lakers’ top players on the court.
Amid a losing effort without LeBron James, Luka Doncic, or Austin Reaves, Redick got into what appeared to be an intense exchange with Jerred Vanderbilt. Online footage surfaced on social media showing the Lakers player having words with his head coach on the sideline.
It wasn’t immediately clear what their discussion was about, but according to one video posted on X, players had to intervene to keep the two separated and cool things down.
Read more: Kevin Durant Makes Feelings Clear on Suns Trade Ahead of Rockets Game
The Lakers suffered their third consecutive loss, with the Thunder defeating them 123-87 in another beatdown by the reigning champions and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Of Los Angeles’s available players, Rui Hachimura scored 15 points to go with five rebounds, while Luke Kennard contributed 10 points and nine assists. Drew Timme also received a starting role, adding 11 points, three rebounds, and two assists.
After the game, Redick explained at his postgame press conference what went down involving the removal of Hachimura and his sideline interaction with Vanderbilt. Both of those seemed to come down to needing the available players to fight harder for the win.
“I called the early timeout because Rui didn’t do his job, so I took him out of the game. We gotta find nine guys that are all in on us,” he said.
He called his exchange with Vanderbilt “a confluence of things,” explaining it was “nothing personal with him” and a “normal interaction” from Redick to a player on the team. When asked what Vanderbilt wasn’t doing, Redick seemed to get frustrated and reiterated, “it was a confluence of things” before moving on to the next question.
In addition to discussing Vanderbilt and Hachimura, Redick was asked about starter Deandre Ayton, and said he’s “having trouble catching the ball.” Redick wasn’t sure if that was due to others’ passes to him or something else with Ayton.
“I think for all of us being undermanned, we’ve gotta scrap and claw. We gotta be on the same page. We gotta play hard,” he also told reporters regarding this Lakers effort.
With the loss to Oklahoma City, the Lakers fell to 50-29 and are in fourth place, trailing the Denver Nuggets, who are 51-28. Both teams have three games remaining before the postseason, but Los Angeles is hampered by not having Doncic or Reaves due to them being ruled out for an indefinite amount of time, which could extend into the postseason.
They may have LeBron back during their last three games, unless the Lakers are trying to preserve one of their biggest stars for the playoff run.
At worst, the Lakers could finish in the No. 5 seed, ensuring they will get a first-round matchup when the playoffs begin.
Read more: Rory McIlroy Injury Update Arrives Ahead of The Masters
For more about the Lakers and the NBA, visit Newsweek Sports.