![\"Second-year](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/jj-redick-nba-chatgpt-lakers.jpg\")
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\t\t\tIllustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: David Bearding \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
They say champions are made in the offseason, in the quiet moments when nobody\u2019s watching. For rookie Lakers coach JJ Redick, the offseason is for yucking it up with ChatGPT.<\/p>\n
In a pre-season press conference held on Thursday, Lakers President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka made the surprise announcement<\/a> that Redick had locked down a contract extension.<\/p>\n But Redick had an announcement of his own: he considers ChatGPT a \u201cfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n After the conference, Redick \u2014 a former NBA sharpshooter who stepped into his current position<\/a> just last year \u2014 was asked by an ESPN reporter about his mindset and drive to keep learning.<\/p>\n In the interview, the second-year coach said he\u2019s \u201cnot really sure\u201d where that mindset comes from, but that he \u201cjust [has] a general curiosity about stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the type of person who, y\u2019know, spends an hour and a half going down a deep, deep rabbit hole on ChatGPT,\u201d Redick said. \u201cIt used to be Wikipedia, but now it\u2019s me and my friend Chat.\u201d<\/p>\n Redick added that this summer was about more than just studying X\u2019s and O\u2019s<\/a>, by thinking about the culture he wanted to build with the Lakers in the coming years. Evidently, that culture just might include an AI chatbot.<\/p>\n As SB Nation\u2019s Jacob Rude pointed out<\/a>, the freshly-minted head coach spent most of the press conference with Pelinka talking about seeking wisdom from other pros, like former NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Giving Redick the benefit of the doubt, ChatGPT could just be another font of knowledge for the relatively inexperienced shot caller to draw on.<\/p>\n It definitely wouldn\u2019t be uncharacteristic for Redick. In 2016, he became the first active NBA player<\/a> to host a podcast, \u201cThe Verticle,\u201d where he regularly interviewed guests from a variety of backgrounds, like pro golfer Jason Day<\/a> and quarterback Aaron Rodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not hard to imagine Redick \u2014 whose only prior coaching experience came as a fourth-grade volunteer coach \u2014 coping with the stress of the job via long, sycophantic sessions<\/a> with his friend ChatGPT.<\/p>\n \u201cRedick spoke last season about how he handles losses, saying he goes to his basement in the dark and watches film,\u201d Jacob Rude observed. \u201cAnd now, all I can picture is Redick sitting in the dark, film rolling in the background, while he has a conversation with ChatGPT.\u201d<\/p>\n