Stephen A. Smith says J.J. Redick will win championship in ‘near future’: ‘I don’t consider it bold’

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J.J. Redick has had a very successful inaugural season leading the Los Angeles Lakers.

Under his leadership, Los Angeles has won 50 games so far in the 2024-25 campaign with the final outcome of Sunday’s season finale still up in the air. This marks the team’s first campaign with 50-plus wins since all the way back in the 2019-20 season. That season ended in a title for the Lakers.

One person who’s particularly impressed with what the Lakers have accomplished under Redick is ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. He thinks that Redick will win an NBA championship as a coach in the near future.

“I wanna say something — I don’t consider it bold at all: J.J. Redick is going to win himself a championship one day as a coach in the near future,” Smith said. “I think he’s proven to be that exceptional and that locked in and that zeroed in. It might not be this year, but with Luka [Doncic] and LeBron [James], I can’t summarily dismiss them against anybody outside of OKC.”

What makes the start to Redick’s tenure leading the Lakers from the sidelines especially impressive is that he had no prior coaching experience in the NBA before he agreed to hold the coaching reins for one of the most marquee franchises in all of sports.

Redick has been able to lead the Lakers to their most successful regular season in quite some time in part because his team has taken care of business at home. Los Angeles is 31-10 at home this season, one of the best marks in the NBA in that category.

The biggest development of the campaign came when the Lakers made a significant midseason trade. After getting off to a solid start this season, Los Angeles traded for Doncic, who’s done his job since coming over. Redick’s Lakers have an 18-10 record with him in the lineup.

Redick might have a real shot to coach the Lakers to a title as soon as this year. After all, L.A. has secured the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, and its top two players — James and Doncic — aren’t lacking in playoff experience. James is a four-time NBA champion, while Doncic helped the Dallas Mavericks reach the NBA Finals less than one year ago.