Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick discussed the team’s reaction to his viral comments following a lopsided 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday.
“For myself, I’m always gonna look in the mirror first,” Redick told reporters Saturday. “I think it’s easy as a player and as a coach to say, ‘It’s this guys fault.’ Or, ‘We’re not doing this because of X, Y and Z.’ We had a great meeting with the staff this morning. Came in super early and met with the players. It was very positive, it was also listening. It was also for our staff, myself, to listen to players and what they need.”
Redick previously said the Lakers “don’t care enough” in his postgame press conference after the loss to Houston.
He also explained that Los Angeles’ practice on Saturday would be “uncomfortable.”
“Saturday’s practice– I told the guys –it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Redick said Thursday, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
“The two words of the day were effort and execution,” he added. “And I feel like when we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. When we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away.”
The Lakers opened their 2025-26 campaign on a high note with a 15-4 record, but they’ve gone 4-6 over their past 10 games. They also own the league’s second-worst net rating across that span (via NBA.com).
The blowout against the Rockets marked the third straight defeat for Redick’s squad, with all three losses containing a final margin of at least 15 points.
Los Angeles will now attempt to get back on track without Austin Reaves. The team announced Friday that he’ll be reevaluated in four weeks due to a calf injury.
With the Lakers’ roster and coaching staff seemingly finding common ground after Saturday’s meeting, they’ll begin a four-game homestand by hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. ET.