JJ Redick reportedly spent Saturday with the Los Angeles Lakers. The former NBA sharpshooter is viewed as the front-runner for the vacant head-coaching position. Redick was working the NBA Finals as an analyst, therefore his schedule will now open up.
During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” The Athletic’s Shams Charania noted how the Lakers may speed up their coaching search now that the offseason is in full swing.
“JJ Redick went in to L.A. on Saturday and had in-person meetings, multiple hours, with the Lakers brass, with Rob Pelinka, the general manager, vice president of basketball operations, ownership as well,” Charania said. “…I think what the Lakers are doing now…is taking the next few days after the NBA Finals now that JJ Redick is done with this Finals duties and now finally get to making a decision and getting to it as far as head coach.”
Redick’s name has been linked with the Lakers since the moment they released Darvin Ham after their dismissal from the NBA playoffs. Redick has a strong reputation for being a bright basketball mind. His history in the NBA will make him relatable among current players, and his relationship with LeBron James will certainly work in his favor.
Nevertheless, the Lakers will likely have some reservations about hiring Redick. He is an unknown commodity due to his lack of experience on the sidelines, and there is no guarantee he could handle the pressure and spotlight of leading the Purple and Gold.
The coaching free-agency market is quite thin. Redick’s allure could be his lack of baggage from previous stops around the league. The Lakers may feel like they can mold him into what they want from a coach.
Still, with the NBA Draft rapidly approaching, Rob Pelinka will likely move quickly to secure a new head coach for his team. Right now, all signs are pointing toward Redick.
Yet, as we saw with the short-lived Dan Hurley saga, things can change in the blink of an eye.
Recently fired coach praises Luka Doncic, seems to take shot at Cavaliers big man
NBA
Bronny James Goes Viral For Photo With LeBron James In Mavericks Jersey With Kyrie…
Young Bronny James is one of the biggest stories of the summer as he navigates the next chapter of his basketball journey. While the draft is still a few weeks out, Bronny raised a lot of eyebrows with his latest social media post, which involved himself and his father LeBron as teammates to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Bronny posted this without any words or captions and fans have been working hard to find its meaning. For some, it’s easy to assume that this is Bronny dropping a hint of his summer plans but it should be noted that James has posted these types of edits before. Back in April, for example, he posted a photo with himself and LeBron donning Team USA jerseys.
Bronny also did something similar before finishing his Freshman season at USC. In December, he went viral for posting himself, Bryce, and LeBron in Lakers jerseys, side-by-side as teammates even though it could never happen. Anytime this happens with Bronny, it causes quite a stir among the fans. As arguably the most popular rookie in this upcoming draft, all eyes will be on James Jr., and the whole world will be talking about his NBA future come draft day.
Regarding the kid’s latest edit, it could be nothing more than Bronny sharing a photo that matches his most ambitious dreams. Even so, at the very least, this means he must be somewhat open to playing on the Mavericks if he’s fantasizing about being teammates with Luka and Kyrie. While they didn’t win the Finals this year, they came within three games of a title and it may only take the arrival of LeBron and Bronny to help tip the scales in their favor. Even at 39 years old, LeBron has the type of impact on the court that makes everyone better, and Bronny’s arrival in the backcourt could help add some depth off the bench. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, they are still a distant third place to land Bronny compared to the Lakers and Suns. Rich Paul has already explained that Bronny will not accept a two-way contract and he’s limited his availability to just two teams so far: the Lakers and Suns. We know that Bronny for sure wants to join the Lakers and Suns this summer since he’s only giving them workouts out of all 30 teams.
As a projected mid to late second-round pick, Bronny already won’t have a direct say in choosing his path but it’s being laid out for him already behind the scenes. With one of their two draft picks, the Lakers are prepared to pick up Bronny with their pick, and if they somehow miss the chance then the Mavericks will no doubt consider drafting him at 58 to join one of the NBA’s best backcourts. Only time will tell how this plays out for Bronny but his transition to the NBA is inevitable now after showing flashes of star potential at the combine. So whether it’s with the Mavericks, Lakers, or Suns, Bronny is clearly on a collision course with the King and he seems to be relishing every moment.
Willie Mays was at the center of some of baseball’s biggest moments
NFL
Bears committed to former Division II standout as backup QB
Tyson Bagent made the rare climb from the Division II level to seeing rookie-year starts as a quarterback. Although the Bears have changed offensive play-callers since Bagent’s cameo in relief of Justin Fields, they remain committed to the former UDFA. Chicago certainly changed up its QB room this offseason by making the unsurprising move to draft Caleb Williams first overall. The team added Brett Rypien, who is now entering his sixth NFL season. The Rypien move is not expected to affect Bagent’s status, with The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain noting there does not appear to be a competition for the Bears’ QB2 post.
Rypien could settle in as Chicago’s emergency third QB. Another tweak to the NFL’s rule involving emergency passers will allow teams to stash their emergency option on the practice squad and elevate that player continually. Teams will not need to pass their QB3s through waivers, though waivers would not apply to Rypien, who is a vested veteran. But based on how the Bears structured their reps during their offseason program, Fishbain points to a clear Williams-Bagent-Rypien hierarchy — with Rypien on the practice squad as the emergency QB — being in place. Bagent beat out both P.J. Walker and Nathan Peterman to be Fields’ top backup last year.
His early work, as could be expected, featured some stumbles. While Bagent averaged only six yards per attempt and closed his four-game starter offering with three touchdown passes and six interceptions, the Bears did win two games with the Shepherd alum at the controls. Bagent also completed 65.7% of his passes, though he has been tasked with developing in new OC Shane Waldron‘s system. Chicago added Rypien on a one-year, $1.1M deal that includes no guaranteed money. The former Broncos backup spent the 2023 season with three teams. The Rams waived him after a rough start in Green Bay, and he made his way to the Seahawks’ practice squad — under then-Seattle OC Waldron — before the QB-needy Jets plucked him for their 53-man roster to close the season.
The Bears are currently carrying four QBs on their 90-man offseason roster. Rookie UDFA Austin Reed represents the least experienced option; he appears to be vying for a P-squad gig. The 16-man taxi squad era (since 2020) has given teams more flexibility, but even with the expanded P-squads and the recently reimplemented emergency-QB rule, carrying four passers has not been standard practice.
Reed and Rypien may well be competing for one spot. Reed spent the past two seasons as Western Kentucky’s starter, taking over for Bailey Zappe in the Hilltoppers’ pass-happy system. Reed’s numbers did not match Zappe’s record-setting 2021 slate — though he did throw 71 TD passes from 2022-23 — but he did enough to convince the Bears to add him post-draft. It would still be a stretch for the Bears to use two young UDFAs as Williams’ backups; Rypien’s experience would stand to benefit him given the current Chicago QB room’s makeup.
Bagent can be retained on a rookie deal, through the ERFA and RFA channels, through 2026. The Bears could form a steady QB1-QB2 arrangement for a few years, should the second-year player keep impressing as the backup arm. Training camp represents Bagent’s next window to do so, but barring a significant step back, it appears the backup gig is his to lose.
Watch: Oilers secure Game 5 win with frantic empty-net finish
MLB
A Braves top prospect makes his return from Tommy John surgery
This season has been one full of injuries for the Atlanta Braves, and nobody in the entire organization seems safe. However, there are a couple of really intriguing names on the cusp of returning from Tommy John surgery. Most notably, Ian Anderson is scheduled to start in a Florida Complex League game today.
The 2021 postseason hero has been out since August of 2022 after going under the knife, and there is some optimism that the lengthy time off could end up being a positive for him in the grand scheme of things. But Anderson is not alone, JR Ritchie is also coming off Tommy John surgery and started for the Braves in the Florida Complex League yesterday. The 2022 35th overall pick is ranked the fourth best prospect in Atlanta’s system by MLB Pipeline, behind only AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep, and Spencer Schwellenbach.
I would probably have him sixth, behind Owen Murphy and Nacho Alvarez as well. But JR Ritchie is undoubtedly a prospect worth monitoring moving forward, and he looked good yesterday, tossing a couple scoreless innings with one strikeout and allowing just one hit. Ritchie boasts an impressive four-pitch mix, which includes a mid-90s fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. Tommy John surgery is never easy to recover him, but at 20-years-old, it’s certainly not a career-ender either. Hopefully, he can build off where he was at pre-injury and start to show why the Braves valued him so highly coming out of high school a couple of years ago in the draft.
Red Sox right-hander to undergo Tommy John surgery
MLB
Astros place Justin Verlander on 15-day IL with neck discomfort
The Astros announced that they have placed right-hander Justin Verlander on the 15-day injured list due to neck discomfort, retroactive to June 16. Right-hander Nick Hernandez has been recalled from Triple-A as the corresponding move. Verlander, 41, was supposed to start for the Astros on Saturday but was scratched due to the discomfort in his neck. The pitcher told Chandler Rome of The Athletic that the issue has been bothering him for weeks.
“When I was out there, I felt like it wasn’t really bothering me, but when I go home and sit down and really think about it, I think it’s too much of a coincidence that my mechanics were really thrown off at the same time I was dealing with this,” Verlander said Saturday afternoon. The hope seemed to be that Verlander would recover with a few days of extra rest. “If this was playoff time, I’d like to think I’d be out there,” Verlander said. “But that pattern where it’s every day getting a little bit better, I think with the off days, it’s best to let it fully resolve itself and I hope it does.” Unfortunately, that hasn’t come to pass. Earlier Tuesday, Rome relayed on X that manager Joe Espada told Matt
Thomas of SportsTalk 790 that Verlander’s progress has been “slower than we expected.” It seems that the decision has been made to let him rest up and get the issue taken care of. Verlander had a 3.26 earned run average on the year before his last two starts each resulted in four earned runs allowed over five innings, bumping him up to 3.95. Perhaps there’s good sense in giving him a quick breather to get healthy as opposed to continuing to send him out there when he’s not at his best. Though it may end up just being a brief stint on the injured list, it’s still notable for the Astros, as rotation health has been the unfortunate top story of their poor season to this point.
They have known since last year that they would be without Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. for most of this season, as they both underwent significant surgery last year. Since the season started, they have lost Cristian Javier and José Urquidy to Tommy John surgery. Verlander has also been away from that group, as he started the season on the IL due to right shoulder inflammation. He was reinstated in the middle of April but is now back on the shelf again. That leaves the Astros with a rotation consisting of Framber Valdez, Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti. Valdez and Blanco have been good and Brown has recovered from a rough start, but Arrighetti is currently an ERA of 6.37.
The larger concern may be the lack of exciting options to step up and join that group while Verlander is out. J.P. France is on the 40-man roster but hasn’t pitched since late April due to a shoulder injury. Blair Henley is also on the 40-man but has uninspiring results in Triple-A this year and was lit up in his major league debut earlier this season. Eric Lauer is in the system on a minor league deal but has a 6.30 for Sugar Land at the moment. Thanks in part to the ongoing rotation problems, the Astros are 33-39, their worst start in years. They are seven games out of a playoff spot and still have time to turn things around but Verlander’s absence will exacerbate a problem that has been going on all year.