At one point this season, the Los Angeles Lakers sat second in the NBA’s Western Conference and looked like a legitimate threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
However, in recent weeks, particularly since LeBron James’ full-time return to the court from injury, the Lakers have faltered a bit, capped by a brutal 119-96 loss to the visiting Houston Rockets on Christmas Day.
Los Angeles still sits at 19-10, in fourth place in the conference. But after the loss, head coach JJ Redick made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t happy with the way his team had been playing.
JJ Redick went scorched earth on the Lakers postgame. pic.twitter.com/ZLuOKyqMBQ
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) December 26, 2025
JJ Redick Says The Lakers ‘Don’t Care Enough’ In His Postgame Press Conference
It didn’t take long for the Lakers to get off track against Houston. The Rockets, who started a lineup with five players 6-foot-7 or taller, grabbed four early offensive rebounds and jumped ahead to a 37-25 lead through one quarter.
They never looked back.
After the game, Redick put the blowout loss down to poor effort and said that the team is currently lacking the attitude that it needs to be true competitors.
“We don’t care enough right now,” Redick said. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional.”
Redick went on to explain that this wasn’t just a one-game issue and that he confronted his team about their lackadaisical effort, telling them what to expect during an upcoming practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings.
“Saturday’s practice — I told the guys — it’s going to be uncomfortable,” Redick said. “The meeting is going to be uncomfortable. I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”
Not only did Houston lead essentially wire-to-wire against LA, the Lakers never closed within 10 points in the second half of the loss.
“The two words of the day were effort and execution,” Redick said. “And I feel like when we’ve done both of those things at a high level, we’ve been a good basketball team. When we haven’t, we’re a terrible basketball team. And tonight we were a terrible basketball team. And that started legitimately right away.
The performance and postgame comments only added fuel to the fire started by James’ agent Rich Paul, when he recently claimed the Lakers weren’t legitimately NBA title threats. Paul also hinted at James potentially leaving the Lakers for the Knicks if things didn’t change.
Although at this point, it’s hard to say if the Knicks would even be interested in making that move.
The post JJ Redick Rips Los Angeles Lakers Players To Shreds After Ugly Christmas Day Loss To Houston Rockets appeared first on BroBible.
JJ Redick Rips Los Angeles Lakers Players To Shreds After Ugly Christmas Day Loss To Houston Rockets
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