Before JJ Redick became the Lakers’ head coach, he was associated with a podcast, Mind the Game, with LeBron James. However, the show’s producer, Jason Gallagher, wasn’t just limiting himself to producing the podcast episodes, he made a few appearances himself, albeit on other podcasts. During one such appearance on Jenkins & Jonez, he revealed the moment when he understood JJ has what it takes to be a head coach in the NBA.
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Gallagher got into a very specific moment from Mind the Game and highlighted that the now-head coach had the confidence to cut LeBron off mid-sentence to question something he said.
“The clip that I most was like, ‘Oh, maybe JJ will be a good coach’, was there is a clip where LeBron is talking about scrolling through Twitter and occasionally seeing some highlights of his. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone cut LeBron off mid-sentence to basically say, ‘It’s okay, you can tell the truth here’! And that’s when I was like, ‘Oh wow, JJ has, he’s got a lot of confidence in this room.”
This referred to a moment where the Lakers star initially began a point by saying that he came across highlights of his on social media. He was going to keep going before JJ smiled and cut him off with, “Bro, it’s okay”.
King James tried to say that he didn’t search himself up online to look at his own highlights. However, Redick simply responded with, “We all watch our own highlights on YouTube!”.
What will be seen by most as nothing more than a hilarious clip, does indeed show the strength of JJ Redick’s character. Not many could cut James off under any circumstances. However, the 40-year-old did it as if it were akin to a stroll in the park.
Perhaps it is that strength of character that could make him perfect for this Lakers job. However, if this was part of the criteria, it certainly wasn’t LeBron James who informed Redick of it.
JJ Redick revealed that he and LeBron James had no conversations about Lakers job
While it may be against the rules, tampering of all kinds has become commonplace in the NBA. So, not many would have been surprised if it was revealed that JJ Redick was courted by LeBron James for the Lakers’ head coaching position.
Yet, as the former NBA player revealed during his first interview as Lakers head coach, no such thing had happened. In fact, Redick instead said that he and his podcast partner had made it a point not to speak to each other regarding this until after the job was finalized. He said,
“LeBron and I did not talk about the Lakers job until… About 30 minutes after I was offered the job…” [per SportsCenter]”
As one might expect, many don’t quite believe this. However, no matter what the reality of it may be, the two seem to be sticking with this story. And given that neither of them will ever be in the mood to pay a fine, this is highly unlikely to see any change.
