Jared Dudley, one of Jason Kidd's assistants since he retired as a player in 2021, is the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks summer league team. On Tuesday, Dudley spoke with the media and explained why he likes working in Dallas and expressed an interest in becoming a head coach someday.
While discussing the possibility of becoming a head coach Dudley made a comment about JJ Redick which some may have considered a shot at the inexperienced new leader of the Los Angeles Lakers. However, it seems like it might have been somewhere between playful needling and a compliment.
Jared Dudley, the Mavs Summer League head coach, wants to be a head coach in the NBA someday.
— Joey Mistretta (@JoeyMistretta_) July 9, 2024
“Some of us aren’t JJ Redick and get to go right away.” pic.twitter.com/J6Ce1lwUIl
"I wanna head coach," said Dudley. "That's my dream and ambition is to be able to do that. But at the same time you can have that. Some of us aren't JJ Redick and get to go right away. Sometimes you've got to put some of this... I gotta be able to do two, three years and four or five years as an assistant and then we all have different times. And my time will come later on but my time will eventually come."
After the quote mentioning Redick started to make the rounds, Dudley jumped on Twitter to clarify saying, "JJ is my guy!"
JJ is my guy! Great opportunity for him! Jkidd did it so did Steve Kerr and my boy Steve Nash! Very rare opportunity! Ex players ! Gotta love it ! https://t.co/zcE1PlYoYD
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) July 9, 2024
Anyone still wondering if Dudley was just doing damage control should know that the Lakers wanted him on Redick's coaching staff this season. Redick and Dudley also played together on the '13-'14 Clippers so in addition to being peers, they were teammates.
Dudley seems happy where he is and seems confident he'll get where he wants to go, which is good. And who knows, after a few more years in Dallas there might be a job opening in Los Angeles when he's ready.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jared Dudley Joked About JJ Redick While Discussing His Dream of Being a Head Coach.
