Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka believes that LeBron James “would be very proud” that new head coach JJ Redick will be helping Bronny James throughout his rookie season.
“It was very clear to us,” Pelinka said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “We were not trying to go out and hire a coach to coach LeBron’s final chapter. We weren’t. This was, could we find someone that would be really good at that? And I would assume LeBron would be very proud that someone like that is also helping his son learn the game. Someone that cerebral and that competitive and that motivated.
“But it’s setting up for the other side of that,” he added. “And that kind of goes back into how are we going to prepare … so that when LeBron does step away, there’s not the cliff that maybe some other franchises have experienced.”
The Lakers hired Redick on June 20 before selecting James with the No. 55 overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft one week later.
LeBron and Bronny became the first active father-son duo in the history of the association.
The elder James re-signed with the Lakers over the summer, agreeing to a new two-year contract worth $101.4 million.
He’s played the sixth-most games in NBA history, while Bronny is still just 19 years old. Redick isn’t worried about coaching both family members despite their varying levels of experience, though.
“I don’t look at it as a challenge that’s unique from any other challenge of coaching a player or coaching a relationship,” Redick said on Wednesday, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.
“Bronny, I feel very fortunate that I get to coach him, because he’s young and he’s hungry and he’s got a lot of inherent skill sets that we can really mold into a really good NBA player,
” he added.
