JJ Redick thinks Lakers should be ‘model for integration’ between NBA, G League teams

With so many Lakers players being young, JJ Redick is emphasizing development in the G league as a path toward playing and earning a role with the main team.

Only the most hardcore Lakers fans pay attention to what’s happening with the franchise’s G League team, the South Bay Lakers.

That’s reasonable, given that in previous seasons, it was rare to see a true prospect getting reps and playing in a similar role as they’d have with the main team.

With JJ Redick as head coach, that seems to be changing as development from the top to the bottom of the organization has become an emphasis.

This isn’t just chatter; the Lakers have taken action and made moves to improve their player development.

This summer, they parted ways with South Bay Lakers coach Dane Johnson, hired Zach Guthrie and brought in Ty Abbott as director of player development.

During an appearance on The Lowe Post podcast, Redick elaborated on the hire of Guthrie and how he sees the G League team working in tandem with the Lakers.

“We hired Zach Guthrie as our G League head coach. All we’ve talked about in the interview process with him and since he’s been on board is just creating synergy and integration. The G League is not a demotion by any stretch. We are in the same building. We should be the model for integration between the NBA team and the G League team. I look at Zach as an extension of my staff. I look at that team as an extension of our team. I would expect us to use the G League for very specific reasons.

The idea of integration between the G League and NBA teams reminds me of how soccer works in Europe. There are youth teams and you can continue climbing up the ladder until you are on the senior roster.

Basketball doesn’t work that elaborately, but the Lakers using South Bay as a path toward the main team sounds like a good way of developing young players like Jalen Hood-Schfino, Bronny James and the two-way guys, Colin Castleton, Armel Traore, and Christian Koloko.

I envision this meaning the offensive and defensive systems being the same for both teams; that way, when a G League player comes up, the transition isn’t as foreign since he understands the system and has discussed what the role is and what’s required of him when playing with the Lakers.

Redick has already mentioned Bronny as a “developmental player” and expanded on his views on the Lakers rookie on the podcast.

I think Bronny is a young guy. I’m very high on him as a basketball player. I said this at his press conference, I said he’s kind of like our first player that we get to mold and help develop. So, we’re going to look at the G League as a tool in our player development system.”

Los Angeles is in an interesting scenario. Their best players are veterans like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but they have a handful of young players that need to be developed into NBA talent.

By focusing more on development with this approach and these hires, the hope is that the organization can have its cake and eat it too. Balancing between winning now and building for later.

For the 2024-25 season, the South Bay has something to say and Redick is empowering them to be an integral part of the Lakers’ success this year.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.