Lakers News: Bill Simmons Offers Hot Take on LA Head Coaching Situation

The Ringer's Bill Simmons has just weighed in on the Los Angeles Lakers' notably unsettled head coaching situation, with an excellent hot take, during a new episode of his essential "The Bill Simmons Podcast" show with guest Ryen Russillo. L.A. lost out on hiring University of Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley, who just guided UConn to consecutive NCAA championships in 2023 and '24, and has been linked to 15-year journeyman-turned-LeBron James podcast co-host and ESPN personality JJ Redick.

"We know JJ was talking to the Lakers for a while and probably wanted real money," Simmons opined. "JJ's making money as a podcaster, he's making money as an ESPN announcer, and for him to give up a life that he seems pretty happy with to take on this crazy Lakers job, he's going to want to get paid. So it felt like two weeks ago, JJ had the job, but then I'm not sure what happened. Maybe he wanted too much money. Maybe the Lakers wanted to put a little pressure on him. Maybe Hurley, who I think just signed an extension, maybe he is looking at all these crazy NBA numbers, where all these coaches now are making $10 million or more a year, and he's thinking, 'S---, I'm actually still underpaid, maybe I have to float something out that I'm interested in the Laker job.' And then if you're the Lakers, you're [thinking], 'This is great, we get to steal headlines from the Finals, people are talking about the Lakers again... we'll do the meeting, and we ultimately end up with JJ and Hurley gets an extension.'"

Redick remains available, while Hurley was reportedly tendered a six-year, $50 million contract extension. The Cleveland Cavaliers, another solid playoff club like L.A., also have a head coaching vacancy.

"I don't think it's a crazy conspiracy at all, I don't," Russillo responded. "As much as I would think if you're a JJ or a Hurley... if you're already making a ton of money, you're not going to go to the Lakers — especially JJ, who's so young... He can probably build his company for five more years, sell it, continue to get better with the NBA stuff that he's doing at ESPN, clearly the guy's got some goals and an execution plan here, and he would have to delay all that. And he can still do all of those things and then become a coach later on."

Redick, still just 39, enjoyed a solid, not-quite-All-Star run in the pros after being a superstar scorer at Duke. He averaged 12.8 points on a .447/.415/.892 slash line, two assists and two rebounds across 940 career regular season bouts. He now is the cohost of two hit podcasts, "The Old Man and the Three" and "Minding the Game" (the latter being his show with the Lakers All-NBA forward), and is serving as a commentator for the NBA Finals, Game 3 of which tips off tonight.

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