JJ Redick’s summer included more than preparing for the upcoming Lakers season. Before Luka Doncic hosted his teammates in Slovenia, Redick spent more than 48 hours with the Lakers star in Ljubljana.
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Speaking about his offseason, Redick revealed that he traveled to Slovenia after attending a wedding in Italy and spent the time with Doncic before the rest of the Lakers arrived for their team trip.
“It was just one-on-one time,” Redick said. “We played, I think, 72 holes of golf in 48 hours, had some great meals together.”
The timing gave Redick a chance to hear about Doncic’s plans for the Lakers’ upcoming trip before it began. The coach said he got the “full intel” on the itinerary and could see how excited Doncic was about bringing his teammates together.
Redick also had plenty to say about Ljubljana, describing the city as “storybook” because of its castles and the Alps in the background. He compared the setting of the golf course he visited with Doncic to Cypress Point and Pebble Beach.
But the bigger point for Redick was what the trip represented for the Lakers.
He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of connection within a team, and he tied Doncic’s Slovenia plans to that belief.
“The commonality to me amongst the past several champions in the NBA and all the great teams right now in the NBA is that they’re connected,” Redick said. “And the more connected you can be as a team, if you have the talent, and I think we have the talent, the better opportunity you’re going to have to win games and enjoy the experience.”
Doncic’s five-day Slovenia minicamp later brought the Lakers together for basketball, golf, sightseeing and other activities. The trip was designed to help the group spend time together away from the regular-season environment.
Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka also explained why the organization believes the experience could help the group moving forward.
“I think that’ll be part of how we come together as a team,” Pelinka said.
Pelinka also revealed that the Lakers players wrote Doncic handwritten notes at the end of the trip, giving him another indication of how the group viewed the experience.
Redick’s own two days with Doncic in Slovenia came before the Lakers’ larger gathering and gave him an early look at how much thought the star guard had put into bringing the group together.
For Redick, the Slovenia experience fits into a much larger process. He described it as “one step of many” during an 82-game season, rather than something that could establish a team’s chemistry on its own.
The Slovenia trip is now over. The next step is seeing whether that connection carries into the Lakers’ season.