LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick said a “confluence of things” led to a heated exchange between him and Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt in the second quarter of L.A.’s 123-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Redick called timeout just 16 seconds into the second quarter to sub Vanderbilt out of the game, telling second-year guard Dalton Knecht to check in in his place. Vanderbilt, learning about the decision, approached Redick near the free throw line while the coach was preparing to diagram a play on a dry erase board and let him hear it.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves, dressed in street clothes after suffering a Grade 2 left oblique strain last week, and Lakers assistant coach Nate McMillan stepped in between Vanderbilt and Redick to create a barrier between the two.
“It’s nothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end,” Redick said when asked about the interaction after the game. “I think for all of us, being undermanned, we’ve got to scrap and claw, we’ve got to all be on the same page, we got to be great teammates, we got to all play hard. Called a timeout to get him out of the game. And he reacted.
“But again, normal interaction for me.”
Redick benched Vanderbilt for the rest 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 core rotation players in Reaves, Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain), LeBron James (left foot soreness), Marcus Smart (right ankle contusion) and Jaxson Hayes (left foot soreness). Vanderbilt left the arena after the game before the locker room was opened to reporters.
Despite being healthy all season, Vanderbilt has appeared in 62 games this season, being held out due to coach’s decision in nine out of 10 games from mid-November through early December and again in eight out of 17 contests in March. 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 inserting rookie Adou Thiero in the lineup in his place.
“I called the early timeout because Rui didn’t do his job, so took him out of the game,” Redick said. “We’ve got to find nine guys that are all-in on us fighting and willing to go out … [and do] whatever you got to do to go out and fight and be all in on the team. We’ll find the nine guys. It’s a great opportunity for us over the next three games to find those guys.”
Redick put Hachimura back in 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, beginning Thursday on the road against the Golden State Warriors.
In the immediate aftermath of Doncic’s injury, Redick said his team’s goal was to hold onto the No. 3 seed in the West, but after Reaves’ oblique strain was diagnosed and the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, he adjusted that stance Tuesday.
“You obviously have to tackle the situation in front of you, that we have — a unique situation in front of us,” Redick said. “And we’ve got to prepare our team, our group that we’re going to have available to play in the playoffs series. … How we approach next week leading into Game 1, it’s finding who’s going to be able to play in the playoffs for us. … The seeding part probably went out the window after the OKC game.”
