Rumors

Luka Doncic is spending the summer in Slovenia with his daughters, Gabriela and Olivia, but sources close to him told ESPN he is in "constant communication" with Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick. Coming off a season in which he led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game and finished fourth in MVP voting before a Grade 2 left hamstring strain sidelined him for L.A.'s postseason run, Doncic is finally healthy as he begins his offseason training. He was cleared for basketball activities on May 28 -- about 2½ weeks after their series against the Thunder finished, sources close to Doncic told ESPN. "He's in full go mode," one source said.

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The win was the 1,229th of James' career and moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most victories by any player in NBA history (combined regular season and playoffs). Not to mention, it came on a night when Luka Doncic topped 15,000 career points and Rui Hachimura reached 5,000. Still, James' celebratory mood didn't last long. Lakers coach JJ Redick had announced all the individual accomplishments in the postgame locker room, eliciting a cascading round of applause by L.A. players and assistant coaches. And then Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' president of basketball operations and general manager, addressed the team. He had the game ball in his hands. Rather than hand it to Hachimura or Doncic or James, Pelinka walked to the front of the room and presented the ball to Redick, who had just presided over his 100th coaching win.

ESPN

LeBron James has a "great" relationship with JJ Redick, sources close to him say -- with one telling ESPN that Redick's hiring is "one thing the Lakers got right." But James, who played the past eight seasons in Los Angeles and helped deliver the franchise its 17th championship in 2020, saw Pelinka's priority in that moment as yet another example of the Lakers taking him for granted, sources said. Adding to James' ire, sources said, was the fact that the past dozen or so wins in that stretch came with James willingly taking a supporting offensive role behind Doncic and Austin Reaves.

ESPN

Oh No He Didn't: JJ Redick on the big 3: "I wish we had more time with those guys all in the lineup. We were just beginning to see what that could look like when Luka and AR got hurt and that's sort of the disappointing part because I think we all felt that excitement and that belief that we were beginning to be a championship level team and would have loved to have seen that group that was finishing the regular season be able to play healthy in the playoffs"

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Oh No He Didn't: JJ Redick on Luka Doncic: "He was phenomenal this year as a teammate, and a leader...the guy had a tier 1 season relative to the rest of the league"

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Dan Woike: Rob Pelinka said he thought JJ Redick dealt with having “three quarterbacks” and praised the sacrifice and humility of the Lakers’ on-court leaders to figure it out.

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Benjamin Royer: I asked JJ Redick about roster construction and depth — and what he’d like to see: “Whether that's internal development, draft, trade, free agency, whatever it is, we need to build depth beyond just an eight or nine-man rotation, because you're naturally going to have injuries.”

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Oh No He Didn't: JJ Redick on whether he coached Lebron for the final time: "I haven't even thought about that. We'll deal with the offseason in the offseason, which is the next 2 months"

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Benjamin Royer: JJ Redick doesn't believe in moral victories, he says. "I don't know who the f came up with it."

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Dave McMenamin: JJ Redick: "I told the team this, is my 17th year being part of an NBA team ... I always look like at as season as a living organism ... when the season ends, that organism is dead and that organism will never live again. ... I didn't want our season to end."

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Dave McMenamin: JJ Redick on what the gap is between the Lakers and being a championship team: "That's what we got to figure out this offseason ... [But] I take a lot of pride in our players ... and what we turned out to be"

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NBA on ESPN: "I care as much about this as anything. No, I love my wife and kids." 😅 —JJ Redick after the Thunder ended the Lakers' season

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Khobi Price: JJ Redick when asked about this sequence from Deandre Ayton: "I’ve been around DA for a season now. I know how special he is for our group to succeed. And I told him this morning, I said to him in the Houston series at one point he was the big part of the reason we were winning the series. He was a big part of the reason we won the series. I believe in him and he’s going to help us win tomorrow."

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Dave McMenamin: "I mean, being on the Lakers, you feel like your back’s against the wall every game. So I think the whole season has prepared us to be in a position where we're in …” - JJ Redick on if the adversity LAL has faced this season preps them for this OKC challenge

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