Summers in the NBA are known for being the time when players reset, work on their game, lock themselves in the gym and come out in the best shape of their lives. Teams reset their expectations and adjust their rosters while coaches self-assess their own performance and find ways to best optimize their re-tooled lineups.
Or, if you’re JJ Redick, you spend hours talking to AI.
On Thursday, Redick and Lakers President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka held a joint press conference ahead of media day and the
start of training camp next week. One of the biggest takeaways from that was that Pelinka announced a contract extension for Redick.
During his presser, Redick mentioned that he had met with Rams head coach Sean McVay and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady in separate meetings to discuss various topics. After the presser, Redick spoke to ESPN LA where he was then asked about his desire to continue learning, to which he gave a…revealing quote.
“Number one, I do have a general curiosity about stuff. I’m the type of person who spends an hour-and-a-half going down a deep, deep rabbit hole on ChatGPT. It used to be Wikipedia but now it’s my friend, Chat.”
Yikes!
If I could briefly defend Redick here, the end of that quote was very tongue-in-cheek. I do not believe he actually considers ChatGPT to be his friend.
However, the fact I have to make that clarification is emblematic of how rough of a quote that is. Now, he did spend the presser discussing how he sought insight from multiple people, like fellow coaches, and outlets, which he also did during his podcast days. In theory, if he’s simply looking to gather as much information as possible, then this isn’t so bad? Maybe? I guess?
This is coping. I’m coping right now. Because this is bad.
Redick spoke last season about how he handles losses, saying he goes to his basement in the dark and watches film. And now, all I can picture is Redick sitting in the dark, film rolling in the background, while he has a conversation with ChatGPT.
I did not have on my bingo card that Redick was a “@grok, is this real” guy on Twitter, but here we are.
Great vibes to start the season off with.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
