Lakers Rumors: JJ Redick Internally Compared to Steve Kerr, Erik Spoelstra as HC | News, Scores, Hig

The Lakers have reportedly agreed to a four-year contract that will give the former ESPN analyst and player the first head coaching role of his career.

Los Angeles believes that Redick can, like Kerr with the Golden State Warriors or Spoelstra with the Miami Heat, become "a culture-setter who can grow with the franchise for over a decade," Charania, Amick and Buha reported.

If Redick were to coach for all four years of the reported deal, he would become the longest-tenured Lakers head coach since the team parted ways with Phil Jackson in 2012.

Most recently the Lakers fired Darvin Ham after two seasons in Los Angeles following the team's first-round exit to the Denver Nuggets.

Ham, who led the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals in his first season as head coach, was dismissed with two years remaining on his contract.

Given Ham's firing the year after a third-round exit, as well as former head coach Frank Vogel's dismissal just a year and a half after he led the Lakers to the 2020 title, it seems likely Redick will need to lead the Lakers on a deep playoff run in the near future in order to establish himself as a long-tenured coach like Kerr or Spoelstra.

That pressure is compounded by the fact that Redick was not originally the Lakers' first choice, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, who reported last week that UConn head coach Dan Hurley had turned down a six-year offer from the Lakers in order to remain in the NCAA.

Unlike Hurley, Redick, who became a media analyst following his final NBA season in 2020-21, has no coaching experience.

That is also unlike Spoelstra, who took the role of head coach with the Heat in 2008 after almost a decade as an assistant coach with the team, including their run to the 2006 title.

Kerr, however, made a similar jump straight from player retirement to coaching. Following his final NBA season in 2002-03, Kerr accepted his first coaching job when he accepted the position with the Warriors in 2014 after three years in the Phoenix Suns front office.

The Lakers are now hoping Redick, bolstered by a roster built around Anthony Davis and potentially LeBron James, can make a similarly successful jump to the sideline this fall.

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