JJ Redick applauds LeBron James’ performance at age 41 with baseball analogy
The Los Angeles Lakers they appear to be righting the ship after the rough end of the 2025 calendar year. They have now won three straight games, including a 111-103 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, to maintain their spot in third place in the Western Conference standings. Head coach Looks like JJ Redick is losing his cool lately, but winning cures all β especially when LeBron James and Luka DonΔiΔ produce at a stellar level.
James stood out in particular on Tuesday night as the Lakers’ brightest star. He was the focal point for LA as they regained the lead over the Pelicans in the fourth quarter, finishing with 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in efficient shooting. This kind of performance makes it so hard to forget that James is already 41 years old. This is the point in the life of most basketball players where they are already retired or working in a worse league.
Redick then used a baseball analogy to describe James’ agelessness as well as their on-court dynamic as coaches and players.
“He’s Greg Madduck at the end of his career. He doesn’t have his best stuff every night, but he has enough to win. I’m his catcher. I have to figure out how to call pitches. Sometimes he tells me to F off and he calls his pitch, which is fine, too,” Redick said with a smile on his face, via @ohnohed on Twitter (former24 on Xid).
JJ on LeBron:
“He doesn’t have his best stuff every night, but he has enough to win. Sometimes he tells me to F off and he calls his pitch, which is fine too” π pic.twitter.com/Hg7ovilSBP
β Oh no, it’s not (@ohnohedidnt24) January 7, 2026
JJ Redick’s Lakers will go up against them for the second night of back-to-back games
The Lakers didn’t do very well the last time they faced the San Antonio Spurs, which they will play at 9:30 PM ET on Wednesday night. So to do that, while the second night in a row must be a scary prospect for A Lakers team that could be without James for load management reasons.
Redick will have a lot of work to do, especially organizing the Lakers’ defense against a lively and young Spurs team.
2026-01-07 07:52:00
