JJ Redick is under a lot of pressure right now. And it’s not just Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves looming on his left to say nice stuff about them. The post-All-Star break phase is intense for any team. For the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s about making the LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves ‘Big 3’ work after a very rocky start to 2026. Now that the trio is reunited after a series of injuries, Redick is doubling down on a major tactical shift that has quietly transformed the Lakers.

The head coach addressed the media after practice today, which included Luka and Austin. Before his silly kids were being sillier, Redick revealed the text he sent on the team groupchat today. “This is going to be a sprint these last 28 games.” He stated, “It’s another segment of the season where starting tomorrow, we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March.”

Despite the heavy schedule, Redick believes the team has unlocked a championship-level ceiling through a specific offensive adjustment. “We’ve had some of our highest paint touch rate games, and we’ve proven that when we touch the paint, we’re elite, and we’ve got to continue to build on that,” Redick emphasized.

The Lakers still have late-game woes, though. His three offensive leaders also have defensive drawbacks. And it tends to get the second half away from them. Overcoming that, as per Redick, has been the most visible change.

He said that the Lakers are moving away from their flawed man-to-man schemes. Since implementing a more frequent zone look, the results have been league-leading. “Defensively, you know, since we went to zone last 14 games, we’ve been much better,” Redick explained. “When we have been in our zones… started possessions in our zone, we’ve been the number one half-court defense.”

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And maybe this could fix the team’s biggest weakness.

JJ Redick’s trying to evolve the Lakers

When Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves combine, they bring the Lakers’ offensive rating exponentially. But their transitional defense is their combined Achilles. Maybe the reason they wandered over to amp the pressure on the head coach was because they heard him talkinga bout it without dropping names.

But JJ Redick had a more positive outlook on it. “Our transition, possessions-allowed are going down; I think a lot of it has to do with spreading back into our zone,” he said.

While the zone has been a “good tool” for the coaching staff, Redick was quick to mention that the team must remain adaptable, citing their recent success with “putting two on the ball” against superstars like Jamal Murray. According to several analysts, this tactical flexibility is exactly what the front office envisioned when hiring the forward-thinking Redick.

Now that LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves will team up more in the final stretch, Redick wants his superstars to be a little unselfish to move beyond personal stats. “I think, you know, we’ve shown that when we pass the ball and we trust each other, you generate not just potential assists, but assists in a connected way that we want to play basketball,” he said.

Redick’s a little too optimistic there. According to league tracking data, the Lakers have dropped as low as 25 in assists numbers and their overall assists efficiency is low. They’re heavily reliant on Bron to facilitate and their playmaking through Doncic and AR leaves a little to be desired. But it’s also been hampered by multiple rotation changes.

As the Lakers prepare for the more grueling stretch, the message from the head coach is clear: the indicators are trending in the right direction at the perfect time. If they maintain their momentum, the rest of the Western Conference is in for a difficult ride.