Shock! Denial! Sarcasm! And a little sympathy on the side. That’s how the global basketball community reacted to an allegation against JJ Redick. A day after the former Magic star was hired as the new head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, a woman named Halleema Nash came forward with alleged misconduct on the part of JJ. Although she never put his name, there can only be one Los Angeles head coach.

According to her X post, Nash was called the n-word on the Duke campus while she was working with the basketball team. “And today he was named the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers,” she wrote. As you can imagine, it was a mixed reception. Comments were calling the woman out for waiting until JJ was at the threshold of the biggest turning point in his career. Others offered their sympathy while a few took a neutral stand.

However, veteran sports analyst and former ESPN employee has only a warning for the shiny new head coach. “JJ better not be lying because … it would have been bad enough but then you deny it that that very well might cost him his job if it comes out that that this was actually true,” Chris Broussard, in the latest episode of his podcast, The Odd Couple, said.

Broussard also revealed that he reached out to Halleema, hoping to get her to tell her side of the story. But she declined the request. Given that there haven’t been any further developments, except the Redick’s camp who refuted the allegation with a straight ‘No’, we’ll have to wait. Either for this to calm down or any evidence pops up supporting the Duke alumna’s claims.

JJ Redick very nearly committed a similar blunder, albeit unknowingly

The incident is one that some of you might be aware of by now. It happened during Redick’s years as a player in the NBA, more specifically when he was a Sixer. A video produced by Chinese media company, Tencent, showed 30 NBA players wishing their Chinese fans a happy new year. Unfortunately, JJ got his words mixed up and the result was a racial slur.

Of course, once this was pointed out and it caught the attention of the man in question, Redick immediately apologized and said that it was unintended and a mistake. He also added that he was “disappointed that anyone would think I would use that word.” That was then and there is no doubt that the Chinese fans have forgiven for getting the words mixed up.

As for Halleema Nash’s case, JJ Redick is yet to come forward with any tweets or statements directly. Let’s hope that his camp was telling the truth. What was your first reaction when you heard the news? Share with us your thoughts in the comments.

 But before you go, be sure to check this video of Leonardo Armato’s take on the deadly duo, Shaq and Kobe.

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