The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten off to a strong start to the 2024-25 NBA season thanks in no small part to the continued greatness of one LeBron James, who remains an elite player as he approaches the age of 40. The Lakers have also seen MVP level production from big man Anthony Davis, as well as some savvy coaching decisions from newly minted head coach JJ Redick, who has already taken the initiative to move D’Angelo Russell out of the starting lineup to help the team’s defense.
Redick has already raised eyebrows across the league for the strong start he’s helped the team get off to, and perhaps no one’s eyebrows are raised higher than those of ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, who recently took to the Pat McAfee Show to relay his thoughts.
“JJ Redick has been everything that this Lakers team wanted him to be…” said Charania. “He lives, breathes, and eats basketball. Like literally, there’s a 7 pm pacific time game? At 9 am, he’s ready for the game to start. That’s his mentality… Players have responded very well to how much he cares and what LeBron James is doing is remarkable…”
Charania also hinted that the Lakers could be players at the NBA trade deadline, which is just around three months away.
“This Lakers team should have a lot of confidence and they could potentially make a move at the deadline,” reported Charania.
An impressive start for JJ Redick
The Lakers remain undefeated at the Crypto.com Arena, formerly known as the Staples Center, thus far this year, and have also rebounded from a rough road start to pick up wins over the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans away from home.
As previously noted, Redick already made a bold decision to take D’Angelo Russell out of the starting lineup, opting to go with more defense in the form of Cam Reddish instead. Russell has responded by playing some great basketball off the bench for the Lakers over the last few games.
Overall, the Lakers still don’t have quite the talent level of teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Dallas Mavericks in the west, and there’s always the potential for any injury absence for either James or Davis to possibly derail things.
Still, Lakers fans have to be encouraged by what they’ve seen from their squad in the early going this season.
Los Angeles next takes the floor at home vs the Utah Jazz at 10:30 PM ET.
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