Steve Nash failed as NBA coach, so why will Redick and LeBron work for Lakers?

JJ Redick is best friends with LeBron James in the podcast world.

Redick also has no NBA coaching experience and recently was best known for getting into flaming arguments on ESPN with the often-outlandish Kendrick Perkins or unpredictable Patrick Beverley.

At least Steve Nash had two NBA MVPs when the Brooklyn Nets went all-in with a completely inexperienced head coach.

Nash, once viewed as a hardwood genius with the Phoenix Suns, lasted all of two-plus seasons in New York, producing a .584 winning percentage that wasn’t close to good enough for a franchise that expected to dominate the NBA with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Chaos and underperfomance defined Nash’s instantly regrettable time trying to lead the Nets, who eventually had no use for a head coach who’d never coached before and clearly was out of his league.

“We both felt this was time,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in 2022. “It was certainly trending in that way and, to be quite frank, the team was not doing what it was supposed to be doing. We’ve fallen from our goals, of meeting our goals, and it was time now because we still have lofty aspirations of where we need to get to.”

When Marks spoke those harsh words, Brooklyn was 2-5 to start a new year, with 75 games still to go.

Predictable reports followed of star players failing to respect Nash and a poor team culture.

So why is Redick — who co-hosts a pod with The King and is only six months older than his new best player — supposed to be any better running a desperate Lakers franchise that wasn’t good enough for college coach Dan Hurley to leave Connecticut?

The Boston Celtics are winning world championships and being inspired by Joe Mazzulla, who forces his united team to watch UFC chokeout videos and refuses to give an inch on the court.

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Redick won’t get the credit if Los Angeles somehow makes the Finals in a couple years — as always, that will go to The King.

And Redick is already the easy scapegoat if James decides he’s had enough of LA and wants to spend his final season on another NBA team in another pro city.

“Podcast about to go crazy,” one fan tweeted.

“LAKERS ARE FINISHED,” a second fan posted.

“JJ Redick had a promising career talking basketball,” a third fan wrote. “No one is going to want to hear him talk sports anymore after he fails the Lakers.”

Nash won 66.7 percent of his games during his first season with the Nets.

That would have positioned the Lakers in fourth place in the Western Conference last season, with Redick and James staring up at Anthony Edwards and Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

That won’t be good enough in La La Land, where it’s world title or bust every year.

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Then there’s the fact that James turns 40 in December.

How does Redick scream at, push, challenge or temporarily bench his best player?

By covering it all on a post-game podcast on the team charter plane, while sharing a bottle of expensive wine with The King?

Redick will either become the next Steve Kerr, who got the best out Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and built a four-ring dynasty with the Golden State Warriors.

Or Redick will have given up a prime TV spot covering the NBA Finals to watch the Finals on TV in the years to come.

“This is either the greatest hire of all time or the worst hire,” a fan tweeted.

Redick could be James’ last coach in the NBA, and the Lakers just hired a close friend and media colleague of their best player who has no real experience.

He also got the job as the obvious second choice, after Hurley passed up $70 million to keep dealing with NIL, the transfer portal and constant NCAA drama to chase a third championship with UConn.

Redick will soon become the next Nash, discarded and coldly tossed aside, or a world champion in purple and gold.

There is no in between when you’re coaching James.