In the summer of 2019, The New Orleans Pelicans signed veteran sharpshooter JJ Redick to a deal worth $26.5 million over two years. In a radio interview five years ago, Pelicans Executive Vice President David Griffin said signing players who could help create a winning culture in New Orleans was important and Redick is considered one of the top veteran leaders in the NBA.An NCAA superstar at Duke University, who was the consensus national college men's player of the year in 2006, Redick played in the NBA for 15 seasons for the Orlando Magic, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Pelicans and the Mavericks.During the pandemic, Redick and his wife, Chelsea, partnered with Lineage Logistics to provide 1.8 million meals to those in need throughout the New Orleans community through the Second Harvest Food Bank.They are also working to give job opportunities to displaced Smoothie King Center employees who have been unable to work Pelicans games and other events at the arena. "There's a lot of people out of work already. There's a lot of people that will be out of work. There's people that are sick. There's people that can't leave their homes. There's school age children that rely on being in school to get their meals," Redick said.Redick felt like this was a huge need for the city of New Orleans once the schools and restaurants shutdown.This was a very easy decision for Redick and his family considering how much love the city has shown them since he signed with the team."This city feeds my soul. There is a warmth to New Orleans. There is a realness to New Orleans. It was one of the last, in my opinion, great, untouched places and what really makes New Orleans special is the people," Redick said.Once the NBA returned to action following the pandemic, Redick produced a viral moment in the "bubble" in 2020, shot-gunning a beer after posing a social media challenge.While playing golf, Redick posted a photo showing a water fountain with a "no use" warning on it.He placed a beer can in the picture and challenged his fans to retweet the photo 10,000 times to see him shotgun it.He then made good on his promise after NBA fans stepped up to the challenge.He filmed himself shotgun the beer in an ice bath after practice. It has since exploded on social media.It has been viewed 1.5 million times.You can take the boy out of New Orleans, but you can't take the New Orleans out of him!Redick's departure from New Orleans in 2021 was a bit rocky.Less than a week after being traded from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Dallas Mavericks, veteran player JJ Redick used his podcast platform to share his displeasure with how the situation unfolded.Due to longtime Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday being traded coupled with the fact his family did not come to New Orleans and instead stayed in their offseason home of Brooklyn during the pandemic, Redick says he asked for a trade before the season started but was asked by Pelicans Executive Vice President David Griffin to start the season with the Pels. “I talked to Griff, I talked to Trajan (Langdon) - Griff basically says to me, ‘come down for a month. If you still want to be traded, I give you my word I’ll get you to a situation that you like,’” said Redick.Redick believed he'd be traded to a team close to his home in Brooklyn and if not, he'd be bought out of his contract so he could join a team like the Nets, Knicks or 76ers as a free agent.Instead Redick was traded to the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline."I don't think you're going to get honesty from that front office, objectively speaking. That's not an opinion, I just don't think you're gonna get that. I don't think what happened with me is necessarily an isolated incident. I think front offices around the league operate in their best interest. I get that. I understand that. Truthfully... I think I was a little naïve thinking I was in Year 15 and I attempted to do things right throughout my career. But in terms of this front office, yeah, it's not something where I would expect certainly the agents who worked on this with me to ever trust that front office again," said Redick.When asked if he'll have to address Redick's comments with his current players, Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy said, "I don't know how each guy will view it, but that was a personal issue with JJ." He added, "I think Griff cared very much about JJ, but he still has a responsibility to (Pelicans owner) Gayle Benson and the organization that supersedes all of that." "You'll hear people say, 'it's a business,' well it is. Players are gonna wanna do what's right for them and they have every damn right to do that, and organization's have every damn right to do what's best for their organization and I have problems when it gets skewed-- that it's a business on my end, but it should not be a business on your end,' said Van Gundy.JJ Redick is being hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, a person with knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press.The person spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because the Lakers hadn’t yet publicly announced the decision to hire the former guard for his first coaching job.The 39-year-old Redick is an extraordinary choice by the Lakers, who hired a 15-year veteran with absolutely no coaching experience to lead a franchise with 17 NBA titles, one of the biggest brand names in world sports — and LeBron James, the top scorer in league history.Redick was a proficient outside shooter for six teams before his retirement in September 2021, when he moved into a career in broadcasting and podcasting. He joined ESPN’s lead commentary team earlier this year.ESPN first reported the decision.Before Redick finished broadcasting the NBA Finals, he met with the Lakers last weekend and apparently did well enough to end the franchise’s lengthy coaching search. Less than two weeks after UConn coach Danny Hurley turned down the Lakers’ ardent advances, Redick has accepted the job in a remarkable three-year journey from the court to the broadcast booth to the Lakers’ bench.Redick replaces Darvin Ham, who was fired May 3 despite leading the Lakers to two playoff berths and a Western Conference finals appearance in 2023.Redick began recording a regular podcast with James two months ago, and their “Mind the Game” collaboration is already wildly popular, with listeners often emerging impressed by the duo’s basketball acumen and high-level discussion of tactics and motivation.Now these two minds will be working together for the Lakers, with Redick leading a roster headlined by James, who is six months younger than Redick.Everything is contingent on James deciding to return to play with Anthony Davis and the Lakers, of course. James, who will enter his 22nd NBA season this fall, could decline his $51.4 million contract option this month to become a free agent.But hiring Redick seems to be another calculated move by the Lakers to maximize their chances of keeping the 20-time All-Star and the driving force behind their 2020 championship team.Redick’s coaching experience is limited to his children’s youth teams, but he has been around the game his entire life. He is the leading scorer in the history of Duke, where he played four seasons under Mike Krzyzewski.And though Redick is an unorthodox choice, his unlikely ascent is not without some precedent in Lakers lore and recent NBA history.Pat Riley was a broadcaster for the Lakers in November 1979 when Paul Westhead took over as their head coach after Jack McKinney nearly died in a bicycle accident. Westhead hired Riley as an assistant without coaching experience, and Riley became the Lakers’ head coach in late 1981 after Westhead clashed with Magic Johnson.Riley promptly led the Lakers to four championships in the 1980s to begin his incredible career as a coach and executive.And then there’s Steve Kerr, the former shooting guard and Phoenix Suns executive who had never coached before he took over at Golden State in 2014. Kerr has led Stephen Curry’s Warriors to four championships and six NBA Finals appearances in the past decade.Redick’s arrival ends another unusual offseason coaching search for owner Jeanie Buss, general manager Rob Pelinka and the Lakers, who are hiring their eighth head coach since Phil Jackson’s final departure in 2011, and their fourth since James arrived as a free agent in 2018.Los Angeles needed six weeks to settle on Ham in the summer of 2022, but the longtime assistant coach was dismissed after the Lakers lost to defending champion Denver in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.Ham led the Lakers to two winning seasons and a victory in the inaugural In-Season Tournament last year, but many fans and observers — and, clearly, the Lakers’ front office — were not impressed by his leadership or preparation.Davis memorably said during the playoffs that the Lakers “have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.”The Lakers hired Ham after firing Frank Vogel, who had been fired exactly 18 months after he won a title in the Florida bubble. Vogel replaced Luke Walton after another long coaching search in which the Lakers were widely reported to have wanted Tyronn Lue, only for a deal to fall apart over issues with money and control.