Lakers hire JJ Redick: How will Los Angeles shape its roster around its new first-year head coach?

In 2015, Steve Kerr had quite a bit in common with JJ Redick today. Although he had front office experience with the Phoenix Suns, Kerr’s post-playing career had been spent in the broadcast booth. That didn’t stop him from becoming the top coaching candidate of that cycle, and he was ultimately offered two jobs despite having no head or assistant coaching experience at any level. One belonged to the Golden State Warriors. The other was from the New York Knicks. We obviously know how well things turned out for Kerr in the Bay Area. Derek Fisher, another coach with no experience, took over the Knicks job and lasted less than two years.

Is Kerr a better coach than Fisher? Probably. But if Kerr had taken the Knicks job, it’s safe to say he wouldn’t be pursuing a Hall of Fame coaching path either. No matter how much importance we place on coaching new hires, ultimately it doesn’t matter if the team in question can’t get the selection right. Redick’s success in Los Angeles will be primarily due to the group of players that Rob Pelinka and his front office are able to provide.

So what kind of offseason awaits the Lakers? Well, The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Jovan Buha offered insight into their plans, albeit somewhat indirectly. In their story about Redick’s hiring, they released the following pieces of information:

• The development of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie is a priority. This was also reported through several outlets during the team’s pursuit of Dan Hurley.
• Redick plans to get Anthony Davis more involved in the offense, especially late in games.
• Relieving the ball-handling duties that LeBron James is currently responsible for, provided he stays, is an important goal. The Lakers want to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

Okay, so what can we learn from this? It’s hard to say for sure, but we can start with a rumor generated by a player himself. Shortly after Redick was hired, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young tweeted an hourglass. Young’s fit makes sense based on several of these criteria. At the very least, he would make life easier for James in the regular season. He would also go a long way in maximizing Davis offensively given his passing, especially on lobs.

Is a young trade feasible without involving the three younger core players? Possibly. It would depend on Young’s trade value around the league. The Lakers have three first-round picks and three swaps to dangle. They could match the money if D’Angelo chooses Russell for the final year of his deal by combining him, Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jalen Hood-Schifino. That would give them a hard cap on the second platform because they would be consolidating the salary, but it is doable. If Atlanta is willing to do so, such a move would allow the Lakers to keep Reaves, Hachimura and Christie in place.

Of course, Atlanta’s other top point guard, Dejounte Murray, was a deadline target for the Lakers and the cost is much more manageable: $25.4 million. That’s a deal the Lakers could potentially match with just Russell and Vincent, although the draft capital involved would have to be greater than otherwise planned to account for the absence of top Laker youngsters in the deal.

Neither scenario is necessarily ideal for the Lakers. The Hawks would likely push for Reaves or Hachimura in a potential Young deal. He is also a defensive liability. Murray isn’t a great three-point shooter, and he isn’t known for creating the kind of passes that get Davis easy points (especially on lobs) like Young does.

It looks like point guard is going to be the priority here. The reporting does not say outright that insult outweighs defense in discussions, but it certainly seems that way. It would take a substantial point guard upgrade to truly lighten LeBron’s workload. The kind of players who could actually do this while playing strong defense are probably just out of Pelinka’s price range.

Finding out exactly what is on the table here will determine how far the Lakers can go. Are they really willing to trade all three first-round picks to give Redick an instant winner? The Athletic’s reporting stated that “Los Angeles is confident he can be their version of Erik Spoelstra or Steve Kerr — a culture setter who can grow with the franchise for more than a decade.” That doesn’t specifically take a position on the issue, but it indicates the Lakers are thinking longer term. If they commit to keeping the younger players in place, that could mean the Lakers want to grow without ever rebuilding. A trade with one or two picks instead of all three seems more likely.

That’s not the end of the world. James and Davis provide such a great starting point that picking viable role players instead of looking for stars could easily prove more beneficial in the long run. For example, they didn’t have a third star during the 2020 championship run. Malcolm Brogdon could probably be acquired for much less than Murray, and while he’s not a high-usage ballhandler, he can at least keep the trains moving offensively. Collin Sexton was also reportedly a deadline day prospect for the Lakers, and under the right circumstances he comes with real mutual promise.

The wing market is generally less friendly. That would be especially true if the Lakers need to use one of their wings to match the salary of something bigger. Ball handling is usually a relatively available and cheap commodity. The Lakers know that, having spent real assets on Dennis Schroder, Russell Westbrook and Russell in recent years. Wings are much harder to find. Most championship teams develop their own teams. The Lakers appear willing to bet on Redick’s development acumen.

We are still in the earliest and most uncertain stages here. James isn’t even a lock to return. He has a player option that he can exercise at any time. He hasn’t, and until his future is secured, the Lakers need to be flexible about what life after him might hold. It appears Redick’s hiring was done partly with that in mind, but there’s no easy way to project their roster at this point. We know the broad strokes of how Redick wants to build, but are still missing details on how he wants to do it.