A tense sideline exchange is raising questions for the Lakers. Head coach JJ Redick broke his silence on a viral spat with forward Jarred Vanderbilt during Tuesday's game. His comments reveal a clear standard for his players moving forward.

Just seconds into the second quarter, Redick abruptly called a timeout and subbed Vanderbilt out. A video on X showed the Lakers player walk to his coach and confront him about the decision. Although Redick walked away from his player, they were later seen chirping at each other on the bench.

"It's nothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end," Redick said when asked about the interaction after the game. "I think for all of us, being undermanned, we've got to scrap and claw; we've got to all be on the same page; we've got to be great teammates; we've got to all play hard. Called a timeout to get him out of the game. And he reacted.”

But the Lakers' coach downplayed any chance of such interaction standing out. 

"But again, normal interaction for me,” he added.

Curiously, when the viral video of Luka Doncic and Redick going at each other went viral, Vanderbilt was the peacemaker. Maybe Austin Reaves can play that role when Luka is in Europe for his treatment.

This is the healthiest that Vanderbilt has been since joining the Lakers in the 2022-23 season. So far, he has played in 62 games, almost as many as he had played in the previous two seasons combined.

The frustration that Vanderbilt showed on Tuesday might have been building up for quite some time now. Redick didn’t play Vanderbilt in 9 out of 10 games that took place between mid-November and the first week of December. Last month, the veteran forward was kept out of the lineup for 8 of 17 games.

However, to say that Redick, particularly, was frustrated with Vanderbilt doesn’t seem to be true. He made an abrupt change in the first two minutes of the game, and it wasn’t Vanderbilt.

JJ Redick took a similar approach with Rui Hachimura

Vanderbilt wasn’t the first player that Redick was unhappy with. Redick put Rui Hachimura in the starting lineup. However, with just two minutes and 27 seconds in the first quarter, the Lakers' head coach took him out of the game and substituted rookie Adou Thiero in his place.

Redick later defended his decision, citing his reasons behind it. 

"I called the early timeout because Rui didn't do his job, so I took him out of the game," Redick said. "We've got to find nine guys that are all-in on us fighting and willing to go out ... [and do] whatever you've got to do to go out and fight and be all in on the team. We'll find the nine guys. It's a great opportunity for us over the next three games to find those guys."

However, unlike Vanderbilt, Hachimura later returned. Redick brought him back with over three minutes remaining in the first quarter. He scored a team-high 15 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes.

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi