After weeks of his name being tossed around in the coaching fraternity, analyzed by veterans and every NBA fan, possible podcast scouting, and tough competition, JJ Redick has now made it. He’s officially the new head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite his overall lack of coaching experience, the professional rapport he has built with lead scorer LeBron James is set to prove beneficial to the roster as a whole. After all, given the tensions between LeBron and Darvin Ham, having someone like JJ Redick would be a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, while the former player’s association with LeBron is one of his biggest strengths, the same is now being exploited to question whether the duo conspired to put Redick at a higher favorability than other aspiring candidates. Stephen A. Smith seems to have an answer for this.

In his latest episode, Smith feels that JJ Redick isn’t in the wrong for securing this top position. Smith has shared the spotlight with Redick many times on ESPN, so he’s aware of his capabilities. He also highlights the entire issue with the addition of the ‘Mind the Game’ Podcast, giving Redick that “advantage”. Smith rather finds it intriguing that both James and Redick would choose to go into such minute details about basketball while Darvin Ham was still the HC for the Lakers. Smith feels, the negativity around Redick probably stems from this, making people feel that it might be LeBron James who was pulling the strings all along.

“Why is it that you would choose to do the podcast at that particular time, as opposed to after Darvin Ham lost the job, as opposed to once the playoffs began, or once the playoffs for the Los Angeles Lakers was over?” asked Smith. While the ESPN personality would question the true motives of LeBron James, he would not pass the blame onto the newly appointed HC. In fact, he was more than supportive of Redick using his media platform for his benefit.

“If him, as an aspiring coach, used the broadcast industry to position himself for recognition purposes to get a job like the Lakers job, more power to him” Smith added. “Doc Rivers did it, Mark Jackson did it. There are plenty of people that have been in the broadcasting booth that ultimately found themselves in a situation facilitated by that level of exposure. There is no crime. JJ Redick did nothing wrong”.

This recent segment wasn’t the first time that Stephen A. Smith questioned the timing of the podcast. Just a few days ago, Smith went on air to complain, “Couldn’t have started it after Darvin Ham lost the job? Did you have to start it in the middle of the damn season when he’s [Ham is] on the hot seat?” At the same time, he was one of the first people to send out his congratulations via social media after the news about Redick became official.

Stephen A. Smith hits hard on LeBron James

Stephen A. Smith has never been the one to shy away from hiding his criticism, just like this one instance where he took a shot at LeBron James and his podcast venture.

During a segment of First Take, Smith revealed “Numerous coaches, black coaches, called me, expressing how they took issue with that podcast taking place…. Some of them felt very salty about that”. When asked whether the anonymous coaches formed due to what happened to Darvin Ham, Smith confirmed the same. At the same time, however, he did not pass any blame to Darvin Ham.

“Any of us would do a podcast with LeBron James,” said the 56-year-old. “I know I would. That would be an honor, so we’re not faulting JJ in any way for doing the podcast or for the content on the podcast”.

Tensions peaked between LeBron James and Darvin Ham were nothing short of public knowledge. Furthermore, given the player’s past reputation of being an alleged ‘coach killer’, the blame for Ham’s exit would certainly fall upon him. However, now with JJ Redick taking the top spot, the coach-player dynamic will surely be in a better position than before.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about WNBA stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.