Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has a unique perspective on how to help Luke Kennard find stability in his career. Redick is known now as one of the best shooters of his era, but he experienced a turbulent ride to the roles that ultimately solidified his reputation with the LA Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers.
As Kennard looks to finally lock down a consistent role with a team that ideally covets his long-term value, Redick may very well be the head coach who can unlock his potential.
Kennard is one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history. He boasts a career three-point field goal percentage of .442 and is on pace to shoot better than 49.0 percent from beyond the arc for a mind-blowing second time in his NBA career.
Kennard has played just 23.8 minutes per game over the past five seasons, however, despite the fact that he's on pace to lead the NBA in three-point field goal percentage for the third time in that span.
That's not necessarily a low number, but it's strange to think that the most efficient three-point shooter in the NBA isn't even cracking 25 minutes per game. Now in his ninth NBA season, it's safe to assume that Kennard is effectively the player he's destined to be.
If there's one head coach who knows what it takes to experience a late-career surge in playing time, role, and importance, however, it's Redick.
Lakers' JJ Redick traveled a somewhat similar path as Luke Kennard
By the time Redick joined the Clippers in 2013-14, he'd already played for two teams in seven seasons. He was traded in 2012-13, then ultimately moved to LA over the summer via a sign-and-trade that was technically his second trade in less than five months.
Unfortunately, injuries limited Redick to just 35 games during his first season with the Clippers and thus delayed his breakthrough to 2014-15—like Kennard is in now, his ninth NBA season.
The next five years of Redick's careers were those that his reputation is now most closely associated with. After shooting 39.0 percent from beyond the arc between his first eight seasons, he buried 42.9 percent of his three-point field goals over the next five.
Moreover, Redick emerged as a supplementary playmaker who could sparingly create for himself and others. He also recorded a career-best average of 18.1 points per game in his 13th season, when he was 34.
Lakers coach JJ Redick had talent, but was a late bloomer in the NBA
Expecting Kennard to do the same would be far too ambitious to exist in the realm of realistic. What Redick can help him with, however, is figuring out how to adapt his game to what a team needs in a way that allows him to stick.
Much as Redick benefited from playing with future Hall of Fame inductee Chris Paul as he achieved said feat with the Clippers, Kennard can do so with Luka Doncic.
Questions will persist, including whether or not Kennard can shed his reputation as a defensive liability in isolation. If Redick proved anything, however, it was that offensive players can mask their defensive flaws enough to stay in a rotation if they know how to fit what else their teams need.
It's an admittedly optimistic take on how Kennard fits with a Lakers team that desperately needs to improve on defense, but Redick may be able to bring out the best version of his fellow Duke alum.