JJ Redick abruptly exits Lakers press conference after mic drop

JJ Redick may have traded Stephen A. Smith and Chris Russo in for Los Angeles Lakers beat reporters. But his turbulence with the media continues.

The Lakers suffered a 131-114 road loss to the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night despite 39 points from a 39-year-old LeBron James. Aside from LeBron, the Lakers rookie head coach was displeased with his team’s effort in the loss, a sentiment he expressed during his postgame press conference.

One reporter noted Redick’s desire to see more of his players step up to match LeBron’s nightly effort and asked, “How do you address that with the team, what’s your philosophy for approaching that?”

JJ with the mic drop after being asked about this 😳 pic.twitter.com/skA7LrGmE0

— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) November 7, 2024

Before the reporter could even finish asking his question, Redick said, “I just did,” he stood up, dropped his mic and exited media room. While departing the press conference, Redick added, “First thing I said to them.”

Redick spoke to reporters for more than eight minutes, so it’s not like he cut the press conference unusually short. But it was clear that Redick had no interest in discussing his team’s effort, or lack thereof, any further.

After watching him on First Take for a few years, everyone wondered how Redick’s personality would handle the scrutiny of being the Lakers head coach. Even Stephen A. Smith questioned his former debate partner’s fit in Los Angeles, calling him “an acquired taste.” Since taking over as head coach of the Lakers, Redick seems comfortable and candid with the media. But there have already been a couple of moments to hint at the potential for fireworks when the pressure mounts, and we’re just eight games into the season.

Redick led the Lakers to a 3-0 start, including a convincing win over the Phoenix Suns which had some in the media already issuing apologies for questioning the hire. But after going 1-4 in their next five games, maybe we should hold off on dubbing Redick some sort of coaching wunderkind.

[Lakers]