As Lakers’ JJ Redick Thrives, Pelicans Are Exploring Hire of Former NBA Star With No Coaching Experience

JJ Redick’s success as the Lakers’ coach may have flipped the candidate pool for NBA teams in need of a new coach on its head.

After the Bucks hired Taylor Jenkins Thursday, the Pelicans and Bulls remain the sole two franchises in search of its next head man currently. James Borrego took the reins in New Orleans once the team decided to part with Willie Green after four-plus seasons. Borrego is in the running for the vacancy, but the franchise is evaluating a wide pool of candidates which now includes one of its former players.

According to a recent report from insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, four-time NBA All-Star and two-time champion Rajon Rondo is among the candidates to emerge in New Orleans’s search. Rondo has dabbled in coaching since retiring from basketball, but he would rise to the head of the bench without any significant experience should the Pelicans deem him the man for the job. That would be a similar arc to Redick, who Los Angeles hired as its head coach in 2024 when he had no prior coaching experience other than serving as a volunteer coach for his son’s youth team.

The Pelicans aren’t zeroing in on Rondo as far as we know. Stein and Fischer report that the franchise is also looking at Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney who has gotten buzz in head coaching searches over recent years. But with the Pelicans looking at Rondo, it’s a sign that opposing teams may take a page out of the Lakers’ book with Redick's success over his first two seasons in charge.

Redick has a 103–61 record over two years and currently has the Lakers on the verge of sweeping the Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Does Rajon Rondo have any coaching experience?

After Rondo's retirement from basketball, Doc Rivers invited him to join the Bucks as a guest coach for training camp and the star guard spent frequent time around the team during the 2024–25 season. Rondo was interested in pursuing a future in coaching as he tested out the job with the Bucks, but he didn't join the franchise full-time while he also focused on his son Pierre's development as a basketball player.

Who else are the Pelicans considering for their head coach opening?

Aside from Rondo, Sweeney and Borrego, HoopsHype reported that Kevin Ollie and Darvin Ham are in the mix for the Pelicans job, as well as Jamahl Mosley should the Magic decide to part ways with him. Pelicans general manager Troy Weaver was interested in bringing in Ollie as the Pistons’ head coach when he oversaw Detroit’s front office for three seasons spanning from 2020 to ’24. Detroit ultimately handed a huge contract to Monty Williams and parted with him after one dreadful season. Ollie’s only experience as an NBA head coach came as the interim coach of the Nets for 28 games two seasons ago, but he has extensive experience at the collegiate level as UConn men basketball’s head man for six seasons. He led the Huskies to a national championship in 2014.

Rondo played for the Pelicans for one season in 2017–18 and is widely considered one of the brightest players in recent hoops history by anyone that has coached or played around him, including Rivers.

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