LeBron James publicly addressed the decision by the Los Angeles Lakers to hire JJ Redick as head coach when speaking to the media after USA Basketball practice on Sunday.
“I’m not involved in the coaching hiring, but I’m excited about JJ,” LeBron said. “I’m excited about working with coach [Nate] McMillan. I haven’t worked with him since the Olympic run [in 2008]. First time working with coach [Scott] Brooks, looking forward to that. So I’m excited about that. That’s been the extent of it all this summer as far as the Lakers.”
James and Redick hosted a podcast together during the second half of the 24-25 season.
James signed a below max contract with the Lakers this offseason after offering to take a substantial discount if they could sign a player to make doing so worthwhile.
“Because we are in a relationship and anybody knows relationships, [knows that] it’s all about committing,” LeBron told ESPN. “It’s also about doing things to help both sides. So, we’ve been in a working relationship going on seven years … so that’s what it’s about.”
James was willing to take less to sign Klay Thompson, James Harden, Jonas Valanciunas or DeMar DeRozan.
“It takes two to tango,” LeBron told ESPN of the Lakers’ failed attempts. “I think our front office, our coaching staff, they tried to do the job that they wanted to do or tried to get guys to come and it didn’t happen. And that’s OK. That’s part of the business. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that sometimes it happens, sometimes it don’t.
“So we don’t sit here and lie about or cry about it. We move on and Klay’s a great player. Obviously DeMar’s a great player. Valanciunas was one of those guys who ended up going to Washington, was someone that was in talks with us, but we move on to see how we continue to get better.
“I’m looking forward to this fall when I get back out there.”