The Los Angeles Lakers recently announced that they have extended JJ Redick’s contract through the 2029/30 season, with a raise that brings him on par with Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. While this shows a great deal of trust in Redick, critics have questioned the logic behind the move.
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Redick will now earn $45 million, averaging around $9 million per season, and NBA insider Amin Elhassan has raised doubts over whether Redick is truly the right person to be trusted after just one season in charge.
Elhassan did not directly declare that Redick was a bad coach. His point was that even the best NBA coaches can see their fortunes change in the blink of an eye. So what has Redick done with the Lakers to earn an extension, especially when he had already signed a four-year contract upon joining last year?
After all, while some coaches have enjoyed great seasons with their teams, others have been fired even after winning the Coach of the Year award.
“How many times have we seen guys be Coach of the Year, and then get fired the next year? Man, we saw a Coach of the Year fired before he got the trophy! Remember Dwane Casey in Toronto? He got fired, and then they were like, ‘By the way, the Coach of the Year this year is Dwane Casey,’” Elhassan pointed out on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
When Casey was fired in 2018, it was a unique situation. Despite winning the Coach of the Year Award for the regular season, the Toronto Raptors decided to cut him loose after being swept. It was the second time in two seasons that they’d been swept by LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The idea that you would extend someone when you had them signed for four years to begin with…I don’t know.”@DarthAmin tells @TheJaxShow he’s confused why the Lakers were so quick to extend Head Coach JJ Redick. pic.twitter.com/caBKb2HanC
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 28, 2025
We’ve seen other coaches get fired just one season after having exceptional ones. It seems Elhassan was trying to emphasize that things can change quickly for coaches, and the Lakers may have jumped the gun by giving Redick an early extension.
“So, the idea that you would extend someone after one year when you had them signed for 4 years to begin with, I don’t know,” Elhassan said.
Clearly, winning 50 games and getting into the playoffs was enough for Rob Pelinka to offer the deal. The team’s GM also cited confidence in Redick’s leadership and vision for the team.
Considering this, Elhassan said he can understand the desire to lock up the 41-year-old. Still, he warned that things could go wrong quickly, not necessarily because of performance, but because of personality.
“I get that you’re like, we can lock him in at whatever price now. But how many times have we seen these things go south? And most of the time it’s not because it turns out he wasn’t so good of a coach after all. Most of the time, it goes south because of what? Because of personality.”
The good news for Lakers fans is that, as of now, Redick has a great personality. He’s a student of the game who made the leap from podcasting to coaching because he saw an opportunity to make an impact with a historically great franchise. And after one solid year, the team is capitalizing by signing him to what could turn out to be a bargain down the line.
At the end of the day, it’s a reasonable decision by the Lakers. Elhassan is also well within his rights to question it, since it does carry some risk. But if Los Angeles believes Redick is the right man for the job and feels confident enough to lock him up after just one season, he must be a pretty damn good coach. Lakers fans should get ready to see him leading the team for the rest of the decade.
