Report: Rajon Rondo and Jared Dudley legitimate candidates to join J.J. Redick’s coaching staff

In light of the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to hire J.J. Redick to be their head coach becoming public on Thursday, two former NBA players in Jared Dudley and Rajon Rondo have reportedly emerged as candidates to round out Redick’s coaching staff.

“Assistant coaching candidates for Redick’s staff will include former head coach and recent [Portland] Trail Blazers assistant Scott Brooks, former Lakers guard Rajon Rondo, ex-Laker and current Dallas Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley and [Sam] Cassell, according to league sources,” Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Jovan Buha wrote.

Out of Rondo and Dudley, the latter has more experience in the league’s coaching ranks. Dudley has served as an assistant coach for the Mavericks for the past three seasons, and he helped Dallas reach the NBA Finals for the first time in over a decade in 2024, though his Mavericks lost to the Boston Celtics in five games in the championship series.

Rondo, on the other hand, has zero coaching experience at the NBA level, though it was rumored that the former floor general could have joined the Lakers’ coaching staff back in 2022 if Juwan Howard had spurned the University of Michigan to become Los Angeles’ head coach.

While Dudley is the more seasoned coach of the two, Rondo had a far better playing career. Dudley carved out a long career as a role player, however, he never averaged more than 12.7 points per game in a single season.

Rondo had a legitimate case for being the best point guard in the NBA for a short period of time. During a four-season stretch playing for the Celtics from the 2009-10 season through the 2012-13 campaign, he made four consecutive All-Star appearances and led the league in assists per game twice.

The former University of Kentucky star also had a special knack for coming up with steals during that time in his pro career, considering he averaged 2.1 steals per contest during that four-year span and averaged a league-high 2.3 per game during the 2009-10 regular season.

Dudley’s experience working for Jason Kidd’s coaching staff over the past few seasons and Rondo’s unique basketball IQ indicate that both could prove to be valuable additions to Redick’s staff ahead of the 39-year-old’s inaugural season leading an NBA team from the sidelines.