JJ Redick Declares Lakers Must Get in ‘Championship Shape’

In his first postseason as head coach, Redick was direct about where things fell short—especially when it came to conditioning.

“I’ll start with the offseason and the work that’s required in an offseason to be in championship shape,” Redick said Thursday during his end-of-season media session. “And we have a ways to go as a roster. And certainly, there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There’s certainly other ones that could have been in better shape. That’s where my mind goes immediately is we have to get in championship shape.”

Redick didn’t single anyone out (though one of the complaints the Mavericks had about Luka Doncic on his way out was his conditioning) but he didn’t need to.

After JJ Redick benched starting center Jaxson Hayes just four minutes into Game 4—and then left him out entirely in Game 5—there was no hiding it: the Lakers got exposed in the paint.

Wolves big man Rudy Gobert completely dominated the series clincher with 27 points and 24 rebounds, and LA’s lack of size was glaring.

“I think when you make a huge trade at the deadline where you trade your starting center for a point guard, of course that’s going to create significant issues with the roster, and we saw some of those play out,” Rob Pelinka said of the blockbuster Doncic-for-Anthony Davis deal. “We know this offseason, one of our primary goals is going to be to add size in our frontcourt at the center position.”

The front office tried to address that gap at the deadline, nearly landing 7-footer Mark Williams from Charlotte.

But the deal fell apart after Williams failed his physical.

Pelinka kept things within league boundaries but didn’t hold back on the message.

“There’s NBA rules that prohibit us from speaking to a particular transaction, but I’ll say in general, it’s very clear and it was clear then … this roster needs more size and needs a center,” he said. “That’s a very clear and obvious by-product of trading potentially the best big in the league to Dallas to get a point guard. Of course, that’s going to open up a huge hole.

“The trade deadline and the moments up to it don’t allow you the requisite time to explore every single unturned stone to add a big to our roster. We just didn’t have the time after the Luka trade. But now we do.”

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