JJ Redick’s Lack Of Experience Isn’t So Odd After All

New Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick may have no formal coaching experience, but it turns out, lack of a resume isn’t so out of the blue for the purple and gold. 

The Lakers have had almost 30 head coaches throughout their franchise’s history and Redick is just the most recent to enter Crypto.com Arena with no NBA sideline reps to his name. First-time coaches are actually in the Lakers’ DNA. 

It started with Hall-of-Fame Minneapolis Lakers center George Mikan. Following his six-and-a-half seasons in the NBA, he took to the sidelines for 39 games with no prior coaching experience. 

Seven Lakers coaches later, it was NBA logo inspiration Jerry West. Just two years after he retired from the NBA, West took over his former team without any coaching experience on his resume. From 1976 to 1979, it was West who led the Lakers. 

While West did lead his NBA alma mater to the playoffs each year he was head coach, unfortunately he could never get his team over the hump to a championship. West passed the baton over to Jack McKinney at the start of the 1979-1980 season. 

Even five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson briefly took the helm of his former team for 16 games in 1994. His short time as coach was not uber-successful, but Johnson later ended up becoming the president of basketball operations and was an owner for the Lakers.

While they may have been assistant coaches first, Kurt Rambis and Pat Riley were also first-timers when they joined the sidelines for the Lakers in those capacities. These hirings only added to the Lakers’ lexicon of coaches lacking experience. 

Suffice it to say, Redick’s hiring was on par with some of the franchise’s past coaches. 

Current NBA Coaches Who Meet The Criteria 

Even across the NBA, there are former players who jumped to leading a team with no formal coaching background. Current Milwaukee Bucks Head Coach Doc Rivers is perhaps the most tenured example. 

Just three years after retiring from the NBA as a player, Rivers took over as the head coach of the Orlando Magic. In between his stops with the Magic and the Boston Celtics, Rivers spent time as a commentator, just as Redick did prior to joining the Lakers’ staff this offseason. 

Then there’s Jason Kidd, the Hall-of-Fame point guard who jumped into coaching right away. 

Directly following the 2012-13 season, Kidd’s final year playing in the NBA, he joined the Brooklyn Nets as their head coach. While that gig ultimately lasted for just one year, Kidd went on to have several other coaching jobs. His most recent job began in 2021 with the Dallas Mavericks, where he just led his former team to the NBA Finals back in June. 

Steve Kerr is another commentator-turned-NBA Head Coach, perhaps most closely exemplifying the blueprint Redick is now following with the Lakers. Kerr has been at the helm of the Golden State Warriors since 2014. 

Kerr took a much longer break in between retiring from his storied NBA career that yielded five NBA championships and eventually coaching. He’s had just about as much success as a first-time head coach with no prior experience can have, helping lead the Warriors to four championships. 

All of this is to say that Redick may not have coached before, but his hiring isn’t as out of the ordinary as NBA fans may think. 

Given the perspective he provided in his introductory press conference, it's apparent Redick is aware of the rarefied air he’s stepped into as a Lakers coach. His preliminary remarks proved he is prepared for the task regardless of his background. 

“Sitting in this seat, I know what the expectations are,” Redick said in the press conference on June 24. “Lakers fans have some of the most passionate fans around the world, and the expectation is a championship. And so it’s my job, it’s our staff’s job, it’s Rob [Pelinka’s] job, it’s all of us, to deliver a championship-caliber team. That’s what I signed up for.”