The morning after a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves bounced them out of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers had some questions to answer.
During a postseason press conference on Thursday morning, Lakers head coach JJ Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka answered a variety of questions about what went wrong. But one comment from Redick is already raising some eyebrows.
The first-year coach mentioned that the Lakers roster must "get in championship shape" this offseason, via multiplereporters. Redick mentioned that multiple players were in "phenomenal" shape, via The Athletic's Jovan Buha, but that others could have been in better shape.
Redick didn't mention any player in particular when making that comment. But it's difficult to hear that and not think of Lakers guard Luka Dončić, whose conditioning has been questioned in that past. When Dončić was sent to the Lakers as part of a blockbuster deal with the Dallas Mavericks, reports indicated that Dallas' concerns about Dončić not being in shape, along with an upcoming supermax extension this summer, led Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to make the trade.
But Redick's comments about conditioning are especially strange given his controversial choice in Game 4 to keep all of his starters in for the second half without a substitution. Redick abandoned that strategy in Game 5 — Dončić, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves all played around 40 minutes in Wednesday's loss — but not before walking out of a press conference after a reporter questioned the choice.
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