At times this season, the dynamic between Jarred Vanderbilt and Lakers head coach JJ Redick was rocky, in obvious and subtle ways.
It was never more apparent than their very vocal argument in a late regular-season loss against the Thunder. Redick called a timeout in the second quarter to take Vando out of the game, and they got into a heated debate.
It wasn’t a good look for either person. Vando didn’t play again in that contest, even though the Lakers were playing without Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves,
LeBron James, or Jaxson Hayes.
Afterward, both sides talked about moving past the public spat, and it seemed that they did. Vando would play 26 minutes in the next game against the Warriors.
During Vando’s exit interview, he spoke about his dynamic with Redick.
“We ended up good,” Vanderbilt said. “Like I said, we’re both competitors. We’re competing at the highest level, so sometimes tensions rise and you have disagreements. But, it happens. Player to player, coach to player, staff to player, when you all have a goal like that of winning, sometimes disagreements happen. That’s all it was. We’ve been good ever since.”
Vando says they are good, but clearly, Redick prefers to play many players over him.
In Redick’s first year in charge, Vanderbilt averaged just 16.1 minutes per game. That was his lowest minutes total since the 2020-21 season.
This year, Vando played 17.4 minutes per game. That is well below his averages over the previous four seasons before Redick, when he was a 20-plus minutes-per-game player.
Given that Vando is the fifth-highest played player on the roster, but averaged the 11th most minutes, it’s clear his actual value on the team and what he’s compensated are out of whack.
This has been an adjustment for Vando, and given what we saw during that game against the Thunder in April, disagreements and frustration can boil over.
Still, Vando is a pro and handled it well. Not once did he publicly bash his coach or rant about wanting to play more. When his number was called, he gave his best effort, and that’s all one can ask for. It’s Redick’s team, and he gets to decide when people should play.
It’s good that the two are okay because Vando not only has value as a perimeter defender but also has a guaranteed contract next season and a player option the following year.
So, unless a trade happens, they have to figure out how to work well together. It seems that late into the year, after that disagreement, they found some common ground.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
