The Los Angeles Lakers are flying in UConn's Dan Hurley for a coaching interview, but that doesn't mean JJ Redick is old news.
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Instead, the Lakers are keeping Redick as a candidate (even if he is the No. 2 candidate). Or as Jovan Buha of The Athletic wrote, Redick remains a "viable" candidate.
"Team and league sources cautioned that the coaching search remains far from settled. Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and governor Jeanie Buss will interview Hurley more formally on Friday, league sources confirmed," Buha wrote. "There is still a chance the 51-year-old will work out a new contract with Connecticut and remain college basketball's top coach. Hurley signed a six-year, $32.1 million deal with Connecticut after the 2023 championship season. His buyout to join the NBA would be roughly $1.9 million.
"Redick, considered the front-runner for weeks, remains a viable candidate, according to league sources."
As for Hurley, the only known reason he would possibly want an NBA job is for the money. An East Coast college coach in Hollywood? Coaching an aging LeBron James and injury-prone Anthony Davis?
Yeah, good luck with that.
Redick would actually make more sense, as he's just 39 years old (James' age), and has played in the NBA. He could be like Steve Kerr with the Golden State Warriors — a former shooting guard who emerged from the broadcast booth to lead a team to championships.
Or maybe Redick would be more like Steve Nash. And we all saw how that went with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets.
Either way, Redick remains in the running, or so they say. But he'll need Hurley to turn down the Lakers' lofty offer first.
