Kenyon Martin slams JJ Redick for calling out Lakers players: ‘Them dudes don’t respect you’

Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick laid into his team Thursday following a 119-96 blowout loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas.

“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said of the Lakers, who dropped to 19-10. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.

“The two words of the day were effort and execution. And I feel like when we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. When we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away.”

We don’t know how the Lakers’ roster felt about Redick’s words and challenge, but former NBA star Kenyon Martin is pretty sure his players weren’t fans.

“JJ, I don’t know if you know this or not, those dudes don’t respect you.”@KenyonMartinSr goes in on Lakers coach JJ Redick. pic.twitter.com/JZuUMtytHW

— Gil’s Arena (@GilsArenaShow) December 26, 2025

“So he said the words of the day are what? Is this the f*cking kindergarten classroom where you put words of the day on the f*cking board? What are we talking about here?” asked Martin on the latest Gil’s Arena. “‘The words of the day are effort and execute.’ I saw that when I used to drop my son off at school at kindergarten two years ago. Word of the day on the door when you walk in. You got to tell the teacher the word of the day before you get into the classroom. Is this what we’re doing here? We’re professional athletes that’s making 30, 40, 50 million dollars a year. That’s what we’re doing here.

“JJ, I don’t know if you know this or not, bro. Them dudes don’t respect you. You are their peer. Just because you have the head coach title, they don’t look at you as such.”

Martin then said he believes the person everyone on the Lakers roster looks to for leadership is LeBron James, not Redick.

“And the main corporate is the guy who you just had got the podcast with. That helped get you the job, man. Let’s call a spade a spade,” he said. “Once you address the crying, every possession to the rest with Luka and Austin Reeves and LeBron once. If you addressed it once, if they respect you, they’ll go out of their way to try to change it because you’re a new voice in there. And you gave a certain effort when you played, JJ Redick. You did. You played hard every time you stepped on the floor. People respected that about you.”

Martin then shared an anecdote about how it’s impossible to get people who don’t care for themselves to care for you, alluding to the Lakers roster simply not having the kind of players who will give 100 percent on both sides of the floor. Not to mention there’s only so much you’re going to get LeBron James and Luka Dončić to do.

“You’re not going to run LeBron James’ 41-year-old a** in the ground, and you’re not going to do it,” said Martin. “Do you think Luka is going to buy in whatever it is that you’re selling? No. And them the guys that you’re speaking of, when this message that you’re talking about, you’re not talking to Vando, you’re not talking to Marcus Smart, you’re not talking to Jackson Hayes, you’re not talking to Rui. You’re not talking to those guys. You’re not.

“They don’t respect JJ. Listen, you just got done playing a couple of years ago, dawg.”