In 2015, Steve Kerr had a lot in common with where JJ Redick is today. Though he had experience in the Phoenix Suns front office, Kerr spent the majority of his post-playing career in broadcasting. That still made Kerr a top coaching candidate that cycle, and he ended up being offered two jobs despite having no head or assistant coaching experience at any level: one with the Golden State Warriors and one with the New York Knicks. It’s no secret how well Kerr did in the Bay Area. Derek Fisher, who had no coaching experience, took the Knicks job but didn’t last two years.
Is Kerr a better coach than Fisher? Probably. But it’s also fair to say that if Kerr had taken over as head coach of the Knicks, he wouldn’t have been on the path to becoming a Hall of Fame coach either. No matter how much importance you place on a coaching hire, it ultimately means nothing if the team doesn’t have the right roster. Redick’s success in Los Angeles will depend, first and foremost, on the group of players Rob Pelinka and his front office can provide.
So what does the Lakers have in store for the offseason? Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic offered some insight into their plans, albeit somewhat indirectly. In their articles on Redick’s hiring, they shared this valuable tidbit:
The development of Austin Reeves, Rui Hachimura and Max Christie is a priority. This was also reported by multiple media outlets when the team was pursuing Dan Hurley. Redick plans to include Anthony Davis more in the offense, especially late in games. Relieving LeBron James of the ball-handling burden he currently carries is a major goal, assuming he stays with the team. The Lakers want to keep him fresh for the playoffs.
So, what can we take away from all this? It’s hard to say for sure, but let’s start with the rumors generated by the players themselves. Shortly after Redick was hired, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young tweeted an hourglass. Young’s fit makes sense based on some of these criteria. At the very least, he would ease James’ burden in the regular season. And, given his passing, especially lob passes, he would go a long way toward maximizing Davis’ offensive potential.
Is a Young trade possible without those three young core players? Possibly. It depends on Young’s trade value league-wide. The Lakers have three first-round picks and three swaps remaining. If D’Angelo Russell opts into the final year of his contract, he could be combined with Gabe Vincent, Jarrett Vanderbilt and Jalen Hood-Schifino for the same amount of money. That would put the second-team salary cap on the payroll, but it’s doable. Such a move would allow the Lakers to keep Reeves, Hachimura and Christie if Atlanta agrees.
Of course, Atlanta’s other talented point guard, Dejounte Murray, is a deadline target for the Lakers and is available at a much more manageable cap cost of $25.4 million. This means the Lakers could match this deal with just Russell and Vincent, but considering this deal doesn’t include any of the Lakers’ top young players, the draft capital would have to be larger than originally planned.
Neither scenario is necessarily ideal for the Lakers. The Hawks would likely favor Reeves or Hachimura over Young, who is a liability defensively. Murray is not a great 3-point shooter, nor is he known for making the kind of passes (especially lobs) that Davis can easily score on, like Young is.
The point guard seems to be the priority here. The report doesn’t explicitly say that the discussions are about offense trumping defense, but it certainly seems that way. The point guard would need to be significantly upgraded to truly ease LeBron’s burden. A player who could actually do that while playing strong defense is probably outside of Pelinka’s budget.
Figuring out what the stakes are here will determine how far the Lakers are willing to go. Are they really willing to trade all three first-round picks to give Redick an immediate edge? The Athletic reports that “Los Angeles believes he can be an Erik Spoelstra or Steve Kerr type of figure — a culture bearer who can grow with the team for a decade or more.” This suggests that the Lakers are thinking long-term, though they don’t take a concrete stance on the issue. If they plan to keep their young players, it could mean the Lakers want to grow without rebuilding. Trading one or two picks instead of all three seems more likely.
That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. James and Davis provide a great starting point, so handpicking viable role players rather than searching for a star could easily prove more beneficial in the long run. For example, they didn’t have a third star during their 2020 championship run. Malcolm Brogdon would probably be much cheaper to acquire than Murray, and while he won’t be used as a ball-handler often, he can at least get the offensive train running. Collin Sexton was also reportedly a deadline target for the Lakers, and under the right circumstances, he’s a real two-way prospect.
The market for wings is generally not that sweet, especially if the Lakers need one of them to match the salary of something bigger. Ball-handling tends to be a relatively easy and cheap commodity to come by. The Lakers know that after spending real assets on Dennis Schroder, Russell Westbrook and Russell the last few years. Wings are much harder to find. Most championship teams are self-developing. The Lakers seem willing to bet on Redick’s developmental abilities.
We are still in the early stages, and the most uncertain. James is not even a sure thing that he will return. He has a player option that he can exercise at any time, but he has not yet done so. Until his future is set in stone, the Lakers have to be flexible about what life after him will be. It seems likely that the hiring of Redick was done in part with that idea in mind, but it is not easy to project their roster at this point. We know the broad outlines of how Redick wants to build his team, but we still don’t know the details of how he plans to do it.