LeBron James reportedly hopes that the Los Angeles Lakers would choose his son Bronny in the 2024 NBA Draft and appoint J.J. Redick as their 29th head coach in the team’s illustrious history, according to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
In a story published last month, Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic stated that the Lakers are extremely confident in Redick’s ability to lead and think he has some parallels with former Los Angeles head coach Pat Riley.
“Redick, a former player and media analyst, has generated interest for the role on a leaguewide scale,” write Charania and Buha. According to league sources, “the Lakers are infatuated with Redick’s potential and see him as a Pat Riley-like coaching prospect who could lead the team for years and help it in the near term.”
In May, Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily also revealed that Los Angeles had “zeroed in” on Redick to succeed Darvin Ham, the Lakers’ two-season head coach.
Speaking of the younger James, Smith conjectured a few days ago that the player is being deliberately influenced in the selection process in order to gain a spot with the Lakers and play alongside the elder James. To put things in perspective, the Lakers own the No. 55 overall choice in the 2024 NBA Draft, and the younger James was ranked as the 54th best prospect overall in a recent ESPN assessment.
Prior to declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft, the younger James averaged 4.8 points per game on 36.6 percent shooting from the field and 26.7 percent shooting from 3-point range along with 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.8 steals per game in his lone collegiate season.
He didn’t star at the collegiate level by any means, but the youngster put together some performances where he showed off his two-way potential. For instance, he scored a season-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor and 2-of-6 shooting from deep in a loss to Oregon State University on Dec. 30 of last year.
Furthermore, the younger James totaled two steals in five of the 25 games he played in.
It remains to be seen if the younger James will be able to serve as a positive contributor at the NBA level or if Redick has what it takes to be a successful head coach, but if drafting the former and hiring the latter would appease the elder James, then the Lakers seemingly should consider making those moves.