The Los Angeles Lakers are still looking for their next head coach. After letting go of Darvin Ham following the first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles has been on the search for his replacement. One of the names that has emerged as a frontrunner is JJ Redick.

What makes the potential hire of Redick fascinating is his connection to LeBron James. The two are good friends and have been doing a podcast together for the last few months. In fact, in the latest episode of the Mind the Game podcast, they made jokes about the situation.

LeBron James and JJ Redick Joke About the Lakers Coach Search

🤔 “There’s other things happening in the NBA World, non-playoff related, that I feel like the NBA Media is using as well [for content]” – JJ Redick 😂

Mind the Game Podcast with Lebron James 👀 pic.twitter.com/cGR3zwgdEv

— The Laker Files (@LakerFiles) May 22, 2024

LeBron James and JJ Redick have been adamant about discussing the X’s and O’s of basketball during their podcast episodes. So far, they have done an excellent job discussing strategies, sets, and tactical approaches to the game.

However, they couldn’t help themselves but address the elephant in the room in their latest episode. Referring to “other things happening in the NBA world that are not playoff-related”, Redick is clearly talking about the Lakers coaching rumors. James immediately understands that and starts laughing.

They make an effort to not go into any details about the process. This makes sense considering that the hiring process is still ongoing with the Lakers scheduled to interview a few candidates including Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell and Pelicans assistant James Borrego.

Even though it has been reported that LeBron James isn’t involved in the coaching search, that seems hard to believe. The Lakers are not going to hire a coach LeBron doesn’t approve of. And the fact that he clearly approves of Redick and his basketball intelligence, makes the former Duke star the favorite to land the job.