The Charlotte Hornets are interviewing JJ Redick for their head-coaching job, league sources said Monday. Redick, a 15-year NBA veteran and former Duke star, has shown an interest in making a coaching jump in recent years.
Since closing his playing career in 2021, Redick has served as an NBA analyst on ESPN. He also recently released a basketball podcast with LeBron James. Although he’s a name familiar to the NBA world, Redick doesn’t have any coaching experience at the professional or collegiate level.
He averaged 12.8 points per game and shot 41.5 percent from 3 during his NBA career, which included time with the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks.
The Hornets have been searching for a coach to replace Steve Clifford, who stepped down from the role at the end of the season.
NBA assistants have also interviewed for the job, including Boston Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee, who joined Boston before this season after spending a decade on Mike Budenholzer’s staffs in Milwaukee and Atlanta.
Lee and Redick are considered strong candidates, among others.
What could this mean for ESPN?
If irony is your thing, imagine ESPN losing its second NBA Finals analyst in the same year. Remember, Doc Rivers bailed on his ESPN contract in January to take the Bucks job. What would happen next for ESPN? Well, if we play the scenario out of Redick being hired, the timing of the hire would be a factor. He could do the NBA Finals if nothing becomes official until after the championship series. Also, Mike Breen and Doris Burke could easily call the NBA Finals without a third person. Dave Roberts, ESPN’s head of event and studio production at ESPN and the point person for its NBA and WNBA production, promoted Redick and Richard Jefferson and play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco to ESPN’s No. 2 team before Redick got the promotion, so Jefferson would be someone to think about next season. The decision to let go of lead analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson during the company’s layoffs last summer once again might have ESPN in a staffing pickle. — Richard Deitsch, sports media senior writer
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