Surprise Team Emerges as Threat to Steal JJ Redick from Lakers

We are only a week away from the 2024 NBA Draft and the Los Angeles Lakers still don't have an official head coach. There are strong indications that it will be JJ Redick but there hasn't been an announcement from the team so far, raising questions about what the hold-up may be.

This is particularly surprising because the general assumption was that if Redick was indeed the next head coach, it would have been announced after the NBA Finals wrapped up on Monday night. Redick was working as a broadcaster and it made sense to avoid any distractions. Now that we are 48 hours removed, however, the lack of an official release makes one wonder.

Now, the situation may be getting even more complicated. According to a recent report, there is a new team interested in JJ Redick as their new head coach. Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reported that the Detroit Pistons are considering Redick as a potential candidate during their head coaching search.

NBA Rumors: Pistons Interested in JJ Redick As Head Coach

The Detroit Pistons fired their head coach Monty Williams on Wednesday. This was met with surprise considering the fact that Detroit's season ended over two months ago and that Williams was only about to enter the second season of his six-year contract.

Now, James Borrego and Redick are considered as "names to watch" by league sources.

"James Borrego could be a name to watch, league sources told Yahoo Sports, as well as ESPN analyst JJ Redick. Redick is currently a prime candidate for the Lakers job, so it isn’t known how much traction Detroit could actually gain."

- Vincent Goodwill, Yahoo Sports

The Detroit Pistons just hired Trajan Langdon as their general manager. Redick and Langdon both went to Duke and Redick signed with the New Orleans Pelicans when Langdon was in the front office there.

Even though the Lakers job is seemingly more attractive than the Pistons gig, this connection could make the Detroit role enticing for Redick.

Plus, the expectations will be much lower in Detroit for a first-time head coach. The Pistons haven't won more than 23 games in any of the last five seasons and were the worst team in the NBA for each of the last two years. Redick will have a chance to make his mark on a young, rebuilding team and will have the benefit of starting from the bottom.

However, the talks between the Lakers and Redick are presumably too advanced. The Pistons making enough headway to lure Redick at this point seems unlikely but shouldn't be considered impossible.

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