Lakers Coach JJ Redick Bucks Recent NBA Coaching Trends
The Los Angeles Lakers’ choice of former NBA player JJ Redick as their new head coach is unusual for several reasons. Most notably, Redick is just the 13th non-interim head coaching hire since 1990 without any prior coaching experience.
That cohort makes up less than 5% of all NBA hires during that time span. In fact, 55% of teams with a vacant head coaching position fill it with someone who has already been an NBA head coach. An additional 35% of NBA head coaching hires have some experience on an NBA sideline (interim or assistant coach), while another 5% coached overseas or in college. UConn head coach Dan Hurley, another candidate for the Lakers role, would have fallen into that last category.
Redick’s hiring also bucks a recent trend of fewer former NBA players landing head coaching gigs. Between 1990 and 2010, 64% of all NBA head coaches hired had previously played in either the NBA or the ABA. Since 2011, that number has fallen dramatically to 44%.
None of the other four NBA head coaches hired since the 2023-24 regular season ended are former NBA players. The Phoenix Suns’ new leader Mike Budenholzer was a longtime assistant under Gregg Popovich before extended head coaching stints in Atlanta and Milwaukee. Charles Lee (Charlotte Hornets), Jordi Fernández (Brooklyn Nets) and Brian Keefe (Washington Wizards) are all young former assistants getting their first call-ups.
Speaking of youth, Redick is just 39 years old, making him the fifth youngest head coach next season, behind Lee, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Mark Daigneault, the Utah Jazz’s Will Hardy and 2023-24 champion Boston Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla. Despite changes in the pathway to becoming a head coach, the average age of NBA coaches has remained steady over the past several decades, generally hovering between 49 and 52 years old. The average age of current NBA head coaches is 50.
The previous 12 coaches with no prior experience were hit or miss. The two big successes were Steve Kerr with the Golden State Warriors (2014-present) and Larry Bird with the Indiana Pacers (1997-2000). Kerr has won four championships with the Warriors and recently signed a reported two-year, $35 million extension. Bird made three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.
Redick’s contract is reportedly for four years, but only two of those 12 first-timers lasted more than three seasons with their teams: Kerr and Doc Rivers, both of whom won NBA Coach of the Year within their first two seasons. Nine out of 12 reached the playoffs at some point, but only Kerr and Bird won multiple playoff series.
There were a few definitive failures. Former NBA champion Quinn Buckner was hired by the Dallas Mavericks in 1993 and started 2-39 before being fired after one year. Derek Fisher coached the New York Knicks to their worst record in franchise history in 2014-15 before being let go midway through the following season after 40 wins and 96 losses.
The staff with which the Lakers surround the inexperienced Redick will be paramount; however, having a top-notch support staff doesn't guarantee success. Steve Nash, for example, was flanked by former head coaches Mike D’Antoni and Jacque Vaughn, as well as future NBA Finals head coach Ime Udoka, as assistants with the Brooklyn Nets, and yet he won just a single playoff series in two seasons leading a team that included Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Twelve is a small sample size, so it’s hard to draw any definitive conclusions about coaches with no prior experience. And there are even fewer data points—zero, to be exact—on the podcaster-to-head-coach pipeline.
