{"id":182398,"date":"2026-03-20T17:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=182398"},"modified":"2026-03-20T17:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T21:29:23","slug":"espn-analysts-glowing-endorsement-jj-redick-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/20\/espn-analysts-glowing-endorsement-jj-redick-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Analysts Give Glowing Endorsement of JJ Redick"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Los Angeles Lakers roll on with an eight-game winning streak and <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a> cements his case as an <\/span>MVP candidate<\/span><\/a>, head coach JJ Redick is receiving his flowers as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

ESPN Analysts Give Glowing Endorsement of JJ Redick<\/h2>\n

Smith, Windhorst Considering Redick for COTY<\/h3>\n

Speaking on \u201cFirst Take\u201d Friday morning, ESPN\u2019s Stephen A. Smith and Brian Windhorst praised Redick for his efforts this season, guiding the Lakers\u2019 to a possible top-three finish with a 45-25 record and the longest winning streak of the season. Windhorst <\/span>revealed<\/span><\/a> that the second-year head coach is on his list for Coach of the Year, noting its his \u201cbiggest complement\u201d for the purple and gold:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI still got JB Bickerstaff and Joe Mazzulla up there. I think I would put JJ Redick on there right now. And that\u2014for a second-year head coach\u2014is a strong complement, and I give him credit for a lot of what\u2019s going on here.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smith added that he and Windhorst have a vote in the matter, and said that Redick is \u201cdefinitely\u201d on his list for the award as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Redick Mounting COTY Case<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>
\nAt the end of last season, when the Lakers fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, <\/span>Redick<\/span><\/a> admitted he could \u201cget a lot better\u201d heading into year two. Fast forward a few months, and that desire for growth has led to tangible results on and off the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

Redick has weathered the storm in his second year on the sidelines, leading one of the NBA\u2019s premier franchises amid a pivotal transition period between superstar eras. He\u2019s instilled championship-level habits and an overwhelmingly positive culture while navigating a maze of injuries, empowering <\/span>polarizing personalities<\/span><\/a> and putting <\/span>questions over the big three\u2019s fit<\/span><\/a> to rest. And after the team\u2019s <\/span>defensive struggles<\/span><\/a> in the first half of the season, an increase in zone and more versatility in coverage proved to be just what the doctor ordered. LA recently <\/span>shut down<\/span><\/a> Kevin Durant<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Nikola Jokic<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Jamal Murray<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Anthony Edwards<\/span><\/a> en route to wins in playoff-like atmospheres\u2014positive and crucial signs ahead of the home stretch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Redick<\/span><\/a>\u2019s work, and the growing <\/span>national spotlight<\/span><\/a> around it, should give him some hype toward a Coach of the Year run, especially after he <\/span>finished sixth in the category last season<\/span><\/a> with no first-place votes. While positive recognition alone is not enough to outweigh the cases of JB Bickerstaff\u2014who has transformed the Pistons<\/a> from the laughingstock to the league leaders\u2014or Joe Mazzulla\u2014who has beat the \u201cgap year\u201d talk to boost the Celtics<\/a> into contention yet again\u2014voters and fans shouldn\u2019t dismiss Redick right away. Not after the Lakers\u2019 hot streak and Redick\u2019s central role in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

After <\/span>throwing jabs at national coverage<\/span><\/a> of the Lakers a few weeks ago, Redick and the team are finally getting credit where it’s due. Even if they don\u2019t make a statement by earning coveted end-of-season awards, they could put themselves in a great position to make larger noise on a grander stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Isabella Frias-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Los Angeles Lakers roll on with an eight-game winning streak and Luka Doncic cements his case as an MVP candidate, head coach JJ Redick is receiving his flowers as well. ESPN Analysts Give Glowing Endorsement of JJ Redick Smith, Windhorst Considering Redick for COTY Speaking on \u201cFirst Take\u201d Friday morning, ESPN\u2019s Stephen A. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":182401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[49759,2279,1133,3798,3836],"class_list":["post-182398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-brian-windhorst","tag-jj-redick","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-coach-of-the-year-award","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182398"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182402,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182398\/revisions\/182402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}