JJ Redick used NBA podcasting to develop a platform and gain notoriety in the media space, but now that he is the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, he is hanging up the microphone.
In his introductory press conference with the Lakers, Redick confirmed the end of the massively successful The Old Man & the Three as well as Mind the Game, which he cohosted with Lakers forward LeBron James.
“For the time being, and hopefully it’s a very, very long time, I am excommunicated from the content space, so there will be no podcast,” Redick told Los Angeles media. “We’ll do something when I have a breather from what we have coming up … at some point, we’ll do something for all the people who listened and will have a small little video but I’m done with podcasting for now.”
“I am excommunicated from the content space, so there would be no podcast. we’ll do something when I have a breather from what we have coming up… at some point, we’ll do something for all the people who listened and will have a small little video but I’m done with podcasting… pic.twitter.com/Q8PmrzxoG6
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 24, 2024
Redick has hosted a podcast since 2017 when he launched The JJ Redick Podcast at The Ringer when he was still an active NBA athlete. In 2021 when he retired, Redick launched a production company and independently produced The Old Man & the Three with co-host Tommy Alter. This year, he launched Mind the Game with James.
Lakers executive Rob Pelinka confirmed Redick’s communication ability as a content creator as well as his relationship with James were part of what helped the Lakers feel comfortable moving forward with him as a candidate.
“I think at the core of a really good NBA head coach, one of the core, core necessities, especially with today’s player, is communication. And I think JJ is one of the best basketball communicators out there, full stop, period,” Pelinka said at the press conference Monday. “LeBron was very supportive of our organization in this process, but chose not to be heavily involved, and we respected that.”
“LeBron was very supportive of us in our process, but chose not to be heavily involved, and we respected that.” – Rob Pelinka on how the “Mind the Game” podcast factored into JJ Redick’s hiring. pic.twitter.com/Xgi62vVFV4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 24, 2024
Given that Redick was so vocal about his shows being an antidote to other modern sports media offerings, it will be curious to see whether he maintains his production company to provide a platform to others. Or perhaps other fledgling analysts and former players see Redick as an inspiration and talk about the sport through Redick’s lens even as he makes the leap into coaching.
[Los Angeles Lakers on YouTube]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.