By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
One year after signing a four-year, $32 million deal to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, JJ Redick recently signed a contract extension.
The president of basketball operations and general manager, Rob Pelinka, announced the deal during a press conference on Thursday, a few days before launching training camp in the NBA Preseason 2025. The terms of the new contract were not announced.
“It’s not lost on me, the sort of rarity of a first-time head coach getting an extension. Like, I recognize how fortunate I am to be with an organization that supports me that way,” reacted 41-year-old Redick.
Countering breaking news, Pelinka and Redick also went into Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
“Just his overall leadership tone, how he not only led by example, but he was very demonstrative in the practice in terms of his expectations of the team, how they played, their togetherness. And I think just seeing that continued evolution and growth as not only a leader by example but a leader with his voice really stood out to me,” mentioned 55-year-old Pelinka, “I think it is going to carry in camp this year.”
“This is his life now. This is his routine. This is just a daily commitment to the new standard that he set for himself. His excitement level, not only in what he hopes this season will be, but his excitement level in embracing this new standard was very high,” Redick discussed workout adjustments made by the Ljubljana native, “I expect the best version of Luka, and it’s my job as a coach to bring that out on a daily basis.”
Besides the Slovenian superstar combining EuroBasket 2025 with a three-year maximum contract extension during the offseason, 40-year-old James picked up a $52.6 million player option in June, heading to his 23rd NBA campaign.
“The first thing we want to do in terms of LeBron and his future is just give him the absolute respect to choose his story with his family in terms of how many years he’s going to continue to play,” said Pelinka, “He’s earned that right, and he’s the best one to talk about that in terms of how many years he’d like to play. We would love if LeBron’s story would be to retire as a Laker.”
“I came away from that thinking that he’s in a great spot mentally and know he’s going to give us his absolute best,” added Redick, referring to a couple of summer meetings with LeBron.
Following the preseason schedule, the Lakers open the 2025-26 Regular Season against the Golden State Warriors in crypto.com Arena on October 21.