JJ Redick Reveals How He Almost Joined the Celtics

JJ Redick is the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, but according to JJ, he could have joined Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla’s staff. Before Thursday night’s game between the Lakers and Celtics, both head coaches were asked about this:

"Joe got the job on Friday and we played golf Sunday morning,” Redick said Thursday night of the interaction back in September 2022. “We talked about potentially joining the Celtics staff. It was something, it was those early stages of really knowing I wanted to coach but not sure what the timing would look like."

- JJ Redick, Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach

"I don’t know how close he was,” Mazzulla said when asked about Redick joining the Celtics. “You’d have to ask him. But I know we had a couple talks about it and he typically was interested in it but I don’t know as far as where he was in that process. But yeah, you learn from each other. He’s an analytical mind. He can think the game. He can think on his feet. So he’s definitely somebody that you can learn from."

- Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics Head Coach

JJ Redick Reveals He Almost Joined Celtics Coaching Staff

Over the last two seasons, Redick had made a name for himself in the media space with his podcast, The Young Man and The Three, and also had a podcast with current Laker, Lebron James, called Mind the Game. He had various head coaching interviews before joining the Lakers this year.

It is fun to think about what the world would look like had JJ become a Celtics assistant coach, but it is hard to imagine it could have turned out better for either side. Redick’s media presence set him up to be a head coach in a world-class franchise, meanwhile, he had to watch from afar as the Celtics hoisted banner 18, from last season's NBA championship, this year.

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