Lakers News: LeBron James’ Unusual Silence & Trae Young’s Father Cryptic Activity Take Spotlight After JJ Redick Move

All eyes of the NBA world are on the Los Angeles Lakers for the past few hours. After letting go of head coach Darvin Ham in early May, the franchise has decided to lock in former Orlando Magic player JJ Redick as his replacement. Just as the fans started anticipating the Lakers’ next move, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young has added intrigue via a cryptic social media post. Now, his father’s old social media activity has also caught the attention of the fans.

Last month, an X account “Lakers Empire” posted a screenshot of his message to Ray Young, Trae Young’s father. In the message, the fan account highlighted their excitement over the rumored news that Trae Young might join the Lakers, as the message read, “Pick and Roll with AD will go crazy”.

Surprisingly, Ray responded by liking the message. Action speaks a thousand words, and Young Sr’s actions, which resurfaced on X, might have added more fuel to this broiling fire of speculation.

The fan account, which had messaged Trae Young’s father and got a response from him last month, retweeted the screenshot after Trae Young reacted to JJ Redick becoming the new Head Coach of the Lakers. Trae, instead of sending a congratulatory message through words, took a different approach by putting up just an hourglass emoji as his reaction.

For quite some time now, the 25-year-old has been linked as a potential trade pick by the Lakers. The same was confirmed by renowned ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, who stated during a segment, “I think the possibility of trade talks including Trae Young this spring and into the summer is very real too”.

Having put this ‘hourglass tweet’, Trae Young may have indicated that he is inching closer to officially joining the 18x championship team. If Trae’s cryptic post wasn’t enough, his father Ray might also have given fans another reason to feel hopeful. Meanwhile, everyone is waiting for a response from LeBron James to the appointment of JJ Redick.

LeBron James remains silent on JJ Redick becoming head coach

It didn’t take long for the NBA world to start reacting once the news about JJ Redick became viral. From sportscaster Stephen A. Smith to former Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Bucks player Patrick Beverley, everyone congratulated the 39-year-old on his new appointment. However, amid all this noise, there is one silent individual, the Lakers’ lead scorer LeBron James.

JJ Redick wasn’t on an equal footing with the other candidates in consideration for the Lakers’ head coach job. It had only been three years since he retired as a player and he had zero coaching experience. However, what propelled him was his professional bond with LeBron James.

Since mid-March, the duo have been co-hosts of the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast. The platform has not only helped fans get a glimpse of the mutual respect between LeBron and Redick, but it has also given them an idea of Redick’s high basketball IQ.

Given LeBron James’ reputation of being an alleged ‘Coach Killer’, and his reported criticism of Darvin Ham, fans thought that Redick might not develop a fictitious relationship with the player if he got the top job.

By not speaking out yet about his podcast partner becoming the next HC of his team, LeBron James has made Lakers fans raise some questions. Fans may have to wait for the next episode of the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast to know LeBron’s thoughts on Redick’s appointment.

Before leaving, check out some insights Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about WNBA star rookies Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.