“If It Walks Like a Duck, Quacks Like a Duck…”: Stephen A. Smith Discusses LeBron James’ Role in Lakers HC Selection

One of the biggest names to come up in the Lakers’ hunt for their next head coach is JJ Redick. Now, Redick has no experience of coaching any team, let alone an experienced roster like the Lakers. However, his friendship with LeBron James has been a factor in his name being pushed to the front. Interestingly, King James is not stepping up to own the popular narrative. On a recent episode of First Take, Stephen A. Smith discussed the Lakers HC position and called out LeBron for shying away from admitting that he wants Redick to coach his team.

Stephen A. said that everybody knows who is running operations in the Lakers camp behind the scenes. He said that LeBron is the only reason Redick, with no coaching experience, has become the frontrunner for such an important job in a prestigious team. However, he finds it interesting how LeBron is trying to play it safe by keeping a distance from this conversation, despite being the one to fan this flame.

SAS said, “Here’s the thing with LeBron, if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, bro, it ain’t a damn mongoose.” The media veteran used this to outline that there are too many indicators that suggest that LeBron had it planned ever since Darvin Ham was put under the microscope.

The 56-year-old said, “What are we supposed to believe when you know good and damn well that Darvin Ham is on a hot seat, and you start a podcast with JJ Redick, it’s entitled, Mind the Game, and on this podcast, you’re talking strategy, you’re talking schemes, you’re talking all of these different things?”

Kendrick Perkins also believes in what SAS had to say about this situation. He also thinks that LeBron is running the show internally, but he is maintaining a distance from this conversation for his benefit. He advised the four-time NBA Champion, “Just own it, man. Just own it.” This seems to be the popular narrative because SAS and Perkins aren’t the only members of the media who believe in this theory.

Skip Bayless claims LeBron James is a “shrewd operator”

While SAS and Perkins are only going as far as calling LeBron out for being a puppet master and not actually acknowledging his influence, Bayless, on a recent episode of UNDISPUTED took it a little further.

His issues with the Lakers superstar are well known, but for a change, he is also singing the same tune as other members of the media. Bayless said that LeBron’s strategy in this situation is to be the person who influences a decision but also maintains a safe distance, in case something wrong happens.

He said, “LeBron James is a shrewd operator, he doesn’t want so to speak, blood on his hands. He wants plausible deniability here, which is ‘Okay, they asked me what I thought, and I gave them a couple of names but then it’s up to them.” From an outside perspective, it does look like LeBron is just trying to play his cards right by putting Redick in the HC position without getting his hands dirty.