The Los Angeles Lakers hiring former NBA star J.J. Redick as their next head coach continues the trend of former players making jump into coaching.
Former players like Steve Kerr, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, Tyronn Lue and Willie Green have found varying levels of success over the years in making the leap, and Redick will try to join their ranks in L.A.
As we look at the future of former and current NBA players who could one day become head coaches, the list is pretty impressive and expansive.
We’ve picked out five former players who could intrigue teams sooner than later for head coaching opportunities, just like Redick did with the Lakers.
Jamal Crawford
The most obvious choice on our list is Crawford, who was a cerebral and valuable role player in the NBA and has transitioned that success to a really promising NBA broadcast career. It wouldn’t at all be surprising to see Crawford get interviews soon if he’s got interest in coaching, particularly as his basketball acumen continues to be on display with his television work.
LaMarcus Aldridge
Aldridge has the unique and envied experience of playing for Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs. It’d be fascinating to see Aldridge get a chance to coach a team, as we bet his years with Popovich would help tremendously as he schemed out what his basketball team would look like.
Udonis Haslem
Haslem was such an integral part of the Miami Heat’s success while he played for the franchise, and his career longevity gave him exposure to great basketball minds like Pat Riley and Eric Spoelstra. While Haslem currently works in the Heat front office, we could very much see an NBA team reaching out to him in the future to talk about a coaching vacancy.
Andre Iguodala
Marc Gasol
Gasol has always been one of the towering figures in the game, and we’d love to see what happens if he ever got an opportunity to coach for an NBA team. He’s got the championship experience to know what it takes to lead a team to the NBA Finals, and he feels like a very underrated candidate for our list.
