LOS ANGELES – Lakers coach JJ Redick said a “confluence of things” led to a heated exchange between him and Lakers forward Jared Vanderbilt in the second quarter of L.A.’s 123-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Redick called a timeout just 16 seconds into the second quarter to put Vanderbilt out of the game, and asked second-year guard Dalton Knecht to check in in his place. After learning of the decision, Vanderbilt approached Redick near the free throw line while the coach was preparing to diagram a play on a dry erase board and let him listen to it.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who was wearing street clothes after suffering a Grade 2 left oblique strain last week, and Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan stepped between Vanderbilt and Redick to create a barrier between the two.
Asked about the conversation after the game, Redick said, “Nothing personal with him. It’s just normal from my end.” “I think for all of us, being underdogs, we have to scrape and claw, we all have to be on the same page, we have to be great teammates, we all have to work hard. He called a timeout to take him out of the game. And he responded.
“But then again, normal conversation for me.”
Reddick benched Vanderbilt for the remainder of the game. He finished with three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in five minutes of playing time, despite L.A. missing five of its main rotation players in Reaves, Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain), LeBron James (left foot soreness), Marcus Smart (right ankle soreness) and Jaxson Hayes (left foot soreness). Vanderbilt left the field before the locker rooms were opened to reporters after the game.
Despite being healthy, Vanderbilt appeared in 62 games this season, sitting out nine of 10 games from mid-November to early December and then eight of 17 contests in March due to being held out by coach’s decision. Redick also gave Rui Hachimura, who started Tuesday’s game, a quick hook in the first quarter, pulling him just two minutes and 27 seconds after tip-off and replacing him with rookie Edou Thiero in the lineup.
“I called the early timeout because Rui didn’t do his job, so I took him out of the game,” Redick said. “We’ve got to find nine guys that are fighting hard and are willing to go out… (and do) whatever you have to do to go out and fight and be on the team. We’ll find nine guys. This is a great opportunity for us to find those guys over the next three games.”
Redick brought Hachimura back into the game with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter and he finished with a team-high 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
Hachimura declined to speak to reporters after the game.
Los Angeles (50-29) is No. 4 in the Western Conference standings and has three games remaining on the regular season schedule, starting Thursday against the Golden State Warriors.
Immediately after Doncic’s injury, Redick said his team’s goal was to retain the No. 3 seed in the West, but after Reaves was diagnosed with an oblique strain and the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, he adjusted that stance on Tuesday.
“You obviously have to deal with the situation in front of you, which is a unique situation that we have,” Redick said. “And we have to prepare our team, our group that we will have available to play in the playoff series. … How we approach moving forward into Game 1 next week is figuring out who is going to be able to play for us in the playoffs. … The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”
