ESPN had to call an audible when it placed JJ Redick in the booth for the NBA Finals.
Even though Redick was a rising star in the media space, he had little experience in color commentary having just joined ESPN in 2021 soon after he retired from a 15-year NBA career. But the loss of Doc Rivers in the middle of the season triggered the decision to call up Redick to the network's NBA broadcast "A-Team."
But Redick would be with Hall of Fame broadcasters Mike Breen and Doris Burke for just four months and just one NBA Finals series. On Monday, June 24, Redick was officially announced as the newest head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
In just one NBA season, ESPN lost two commentators on its lead NBA broadcast team to NBA head coaching positions.
However, according to ESPN's President of Content Burke Magnus, Redick's latest decision wasn't as shocking as Rivers'.
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ESPN was well aware that Redick was interested in coaching
JJ Redick has been a part of the media since he was an NBA player. He was actually the first active player to start a podcast, which he did back in 2016.
That experience propelled him to a fast-rising media career, which saw his podcast evolve into a media company called ThreeFourTwo Productions. This year, he also started a podcast with LeBron James called "Mind The Game," which has dominated the sports podcast charts.
Many have cited his podcasting abilities and the relationships he builds in his shows as the reason he got the job as a head coach. While that could be true, Redick has been interviewed for coaching opportunities in the past.
In fact, Redick was nearly part of this year's NBA Champion Boston Celtics as he's talked publicly about being approached by Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazulla in 2022 to join the team as an assistant coach.
Redick also interviewed for a role as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors before the 2023-24 NBA season. He admitted in January on "Pablo Torre Finds Out" that he's interviewed for "a number of teams."
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Magnus said he was aware of Redick's sentiments regarding a career in coaching in an interview on the podcast "Sports Media with Richard Deistch" on Wednesday, June 26.
"No secret there either," Magnus said. "He's had interviews and he sort of indicated an interest in coaching, so that was not a surprise."
He praised Redick's work in substituting for Rivers for the back half of the season all the way to the NBA Finals and said that the new Lakers coach would have no problem returning to the media side down the line if he so chooses.
"I thought JJ really stepped up and filled in at a very high level," Magnus said. "By the way, if he ever wants to come back and be a broadcaster after coaching, I think we all know, I think the world knows now that he's a great basketball mind and he certainly has a bright future."
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However, while Magnus said ESPN wasn't blindsided by Redick's departure, he admitted that the same can't be said about Rivers when he left in late January to takeover as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
"We took Doc at his word that he was done coaching," Magnus said. "He gave us a three year commitment. It was written into the contract specifically that he was not going to go back to coaching. That's not what happened. So unfortunately, it left us in the lurch in the middle of the season which was extremely uncomfortable."
ESPN's now going to have to go back to the drawing board for who it will add to the team of Breen and Burke. Magnus said that ESPN does not have any plan in place yet for the replacement of Redick entering next season, though he did admit in the podcast that the network is "not married" to the idea of a three-person booth.
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