NBA (DR)

Still looking for a coach and uncertain about the future of LeBron James, the Lakers necessarily liven up the debates on TV sets.

An influential voice in the league thus took the liberty of calling lies in these two cases.

After having trusted Darvin Ham for two years, the Lakers finally decided to part ways with him following the elimination suffered in the first round of the playoffs, against the Nuggets.

And since mistakes are almost prohibited for the franchise at this stage, its leaders are taking their time before appointing a new coach.

Several candidates would thus be considered, even if a favorite seems to emerge.

Stephen A. Smith bluntly on LeBron and the future Lakers coach

While the names of James Borrego, Micah Nori and Kenny Atkinson may have circulated, JJ Redick would be best placed to take the helm of the Lakers coaching staff.

The Angelino staff would thus have flashed on its potential according to various insiders.

However, for Stephen A. Smith, this situation would only be due to the close relationship maintained by the ex-sniper… with LeBron James . He explains in First Take :

Stephen A. Smith: What are we supposed to believe?

As luck would have it, when we knew full well that Darvin Ham was on the hot seat, LeBron started a podcast with JJ Redick called “Mind the Game” and in which he talks about strategy, systems and all that stuff .

And now JJ Redick finds himself as the main candidate for the position of coach of the Lakers!

You can talk about (James) Borrego all you want and respect the man, but he was in Charlotte. He only finished one season in the positive.

He won 44% of his matches. Do you think the Lakers could sell this to their fans?

Good luck ! And I’m not saying this man doesn’t deserve to be a head coach.

I’m just saying… We all know JJ Redick is the leading candidate for the job.

Now, I’m not saying what LeBron’s intention was or anything.

JJ Redick does an outstanding job for us as an analyst, but we all know he wants to be a coach and I wish him luck in that.

I hope he gets there. Really. But here’s the thing with LeBron: if he behaves this way, it’s not for nothing. All this is not trivial.

We know what he does. He makes the bullshit stop! He’s not going to say it publicly, but behind the scenes he does what he wants. We all know it.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t believe anything he says about this, and let’s move on.

Thus, for Stephen A. and despite rumors to the contrary , LeBron would still pull the strings at the Lakers and would have indirectly pushed for JJ Redick to become the coach.

A request to which his superiors, wishing to keep him this summer, would inevitably comply according to him.

If JJ Redick appears as the main candidate for the position of coach of the Lakers, discussions continue internally. And according to Stephen A. Smith, LeBron James’ voice in this matter resonates much more than the King suggests.