It’s safe to say that the Los Angeles Lakers carried out the biggest gamble in the off-season. After firing Darvin Ham, the front office hired JJ Redick, who has never coached a professional basketball team at any level. This decision was widely criticized with polarizing views, but it died down in time. However, with only a few days left for the season, a retired team veteran has brought it up again and put forward an important question to the front office. Above all, he dismantled JJ’s ‘key promise’.

Tapping into the lingering doubt in fans, Byron Scott carried out a minor probe into the front office on Fast Break. The 63-year-old, who rocked the Lakers thread in the late 1980s, went through the team’s last few coaching hires. He started by asking, “I’m trying to figure out what the hell’s going on.” He continued, “You got Frank Vogel, he takes us, we win a championship… The next year he’s gone. Darvin Ham, who, is a friend of mine, a great guy. I thought he did a hell of a job as a coach.”

“Winning percentage… And then, boom, they make this change, right? And then they bring in J.J., who has no coaching experience whatsoever.” Speaking about his friend, Darvin Ham, Byron Scott also highlighted the Lakers’ deep playoff run in his first year and the unfortunate exit last season losing to the defending champions Denver Nuggets.

For the unversed: Ham has been closely associated with the Lakers since 2011, when he was an assistant coach to Mike Brown. After spending 11 years in that same capacity, he transitioned to a head coach position in 2022. He was fired just two years later, after the team failed to make it to the playoffs for a second consecutive season. During his run, the coach garnered a 90-74 record, two playoff berths, a championship in the In-Season Tournament and the 2023 Western Conference Finals.

The teams’ failure in the 2023-24 season put Ham in the firing line, especially after Anthony Davis and LeBron James had played the most games since the 2017-18 season. With the season being largely injury-free for both, James appeared in 71 matches, and Davis, 76. The coach’s questionable coaching decisions were also blamed by fans and critics. Curiously, he benched D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, in favor of Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince.

Ham’s successor, Reddick reportedly signed a four-year, $8 million per season deal despite his coaching career not extending much. He was a volunteer head coach for the 4th Grade Boys Team at the Brooklyn Basketball Academy. Yet the former player’s tactical ability and knowledge of the sport attracted the front office. After all, not everybody can co-host a podcast with LeBron James, can they?

Still, Scott wasn’t happy with Darvin Ham’s dismissal. Furthermore, the legend concluded the rant, saying, “I’m not sure, you know, what’s going to happen.”

 To put it in plain words, it seemed as if the Lakers themselves weren’t sure of what’s happening. Days before they hired Redick, the team was on an intense hunt to rope in the UConn coach Dan Hurley. While it looked like Hurley snatched the opportunity, a suspenseful storyline developed, and, boom, the 51-year-old was out of the race. Thus, the Lakers resorted to Redick. The Lakers surely seemed to have embraced a gamble!

Scott publicly trashed JJ Redick’s brightest ‘USP’

One thing that the media registered following the JJ Redick hire was ‘player development’. The 40-year-old coach stressed that he would dedicate his tenure to developing the Lakers’ roster. Reacting to the stance, Scott later in the podcast said, “I’ll be honest, it didn’t make sense to me.” The Lakers’ legend found this particular aspect completely unnecessary and couldn’t draw its connection with JJ.

Scott added, “I mean when you say you’re bringing him in because of player development, but he’s never been a coach. Yeah. So how can you say he’s really good at developing players? You know what I’m saying? Yeah. That don’t make sense.” On the other hand, the team has veteran players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell in the starting lineup and definitely won’t need a ‘developmental’ requirement, at least for the next two years. What they now need is a supporting hand to propel King James to his final NBA ring, alongside AD’s support, which the front office has miserably failed to deliver.

Nevertheless, what do you make of legend’s criticism of the franchise front office? Let us know in the comments.