*Lakers coach JJ Redick has denied allegations of using the N-word toward a Black woman during his time as a student at Duke University.
According to CNN, Redick, a former NBA shooting guard with no prior coaching experience, was introduced on Monday as the Los Angeles Lakers’ new head coach.
“I have zero coaching experience in the NBA, but I would argue that I’m very experienced and it started 22 years ago when I went to Duke and I got to play for Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) for four years, spent 15 years as a (NBA) player,” he said during a introductory presser.
A day after the announcement, Halleemah Nash posted a tweet where she recalled working with Duke’s men’s basketball team when Redick allegedly called her the N-word.
“I’ve only been called the N word to my face by a white man once in my life and it was on the campus of Duke University while I was doing work with the basketball team,” Nash wrote. “And today he was named the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. What a world.”
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Is this AI or did JJ Reddick really just casually drop f bombs in his introductory presser. This is such a bad bit. (Cue all the people who are incorrect telling me I’m soft and a boomer). You’re at the mic, in public. Act like a pro. pic.twitter.com/ljoJQeyhez
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) June 25, 2024
She added, “For context, this was years ago and Im a believer that we all have space to grow- especially from our college level maturity. We live in a world where these exchanges happen and the intersection of race and privilege and lack of accountability all collided w/that presser.”
TMZ reports that Redick’s camp denied the accusation. “No, it never happened,” a spokesperson told the outlet.
Meanwhile, Complex reports that in 2018, Redick used a racial slur while wishing Chinese fans a happy new year.
After JJ Redick was named the Los Angeles Lakers’ new head coach, speculation arose about whether his close friend LeBron James had influenced the decision.
“He didn’t provide any advice…LeBron and I did not talk about the Lakers job until Thursday afternoon, about 30 minutes after I was offered the job,” Redick told reporters on Monday, prompting someone to groan in the audience. Sports fans aren’t buying it because Redick and James co-host a podcast together, so the natural assumption is that they spoke about the coaching position before he was officially hired.
Watch the moment via the X/Twitter clip below.
“LeBron and I didn’t talk about the Lakers job” ?
JJ Redick says LeBron didn’t want to be involved in Lakers HC search pic.twitter.com/OW3Lb9pL9y
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 24, 2024
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