Wolves’ Chris Finch Clowns on Podcaster Turned Coach JJ Redick

Prior to his coaching career getting underway, and after his 15-year NBA playing career — which narrowly avoided a stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves multiple times — JJ Redick worked as an analyst for ESPN. But before he got his big shot on TV, the former Duke superstar became popular on the internet through podcasting.

Redick has hosted several successful shows on a variety of platforms (The Vertical, The Ringer, Yahoo Sports), before he created his own media company in 2020 and launched the “Old Man and a Three” Podcast, which he quickly took to the moon, before being hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024.

The now repurposed “Young Man and a Three” podcast is still putting out regular episodes and currently has 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube. But just in case you forgot about all of JJ Redick’s previous career experience, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch is happy to remind you

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch goes after Lakers JJ Redick on Zach Lowe Show

He did just that Thursday night, when (speaking of podcasts) he made an appearance on the Zach Lowe Show, which the longtime NBA insider was hosting live from Minneapolis.

Lowe’s show last night had a bunch of local guests, including Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo, The Athletic beat writer Jon Krawczynski, and the star of Thursday’s show, Finchy.

And pretty much immediately after taking the stage, Minnesota’s head coach went after JJ Redick. As he sat down, Lowe and Finchy started a friendly back and forth about the former’s recent time off. That quickly turned into a joke on Lowe about how, as a retired podcaster, he is now qualified to coach the Lakers.

Chris Finch shares his thoughts on podcasting:

“I mean… it will qualify you to coach the Lakers.” 💀

(via @ZachLowe_NBA) pic.twitter.com/toSIF7SmEs

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 14, 2025

Lowe: “My wife was worried about me. She’s like, ‘You’re such a workaholic. What are you going to do?’ I was like, “Watch how amazing I am at doing nothing.’ It was great.”

Finch: “I bet three-quarters of these people are going to go home and do a podcast tonight.”

Lowe: “You’re going with the anti-media tropes right out of the gate?”

Finch: “Well, it will qualify to coach the Lakers, you know…”

Zach Lowe Show – 11/13/2025

Related: Karl-Anthony Towns Still Misses Minnesota; Still Stunned by Trade

Chris Finch has been coaching the Minnesota Timberwolves (currently 7-4) for parts of six NBA seasons already. The 56-year-old Pennsylvanian was hired exactly halfway through the 2020-21 NBA season, under circumstances that were far from ideal.

But all he has done in the four-plus seasons since taking the job is go 216-164 (.568), appear in four-straight playoffs and two straight Western Conference Finals, easily implanting himself as the most successful head coach in MN Timberwolves history.

MN Timberwolves HC & Lakers HC have a history

Now, context is king and it’s important to mention, given how divisive the above comments could come off, without it. See, Chris Finch and JJ Redick have a history that goes far beyond the Minnesota Timberwolves vs Los Angeles Lakers playoff matchup last summer.

JJ Redick played for Chris Finch when the two crossed paths in New Orleans back in 2019-2020, during the twilight of Redick’s playing career, and right before Finchy was hired as Wolves head coach.

Since then, the two friends have made it very clear how much respect they have for one another, meaning Finch’s jab at Redick was likely an inside job, between two friends, and not something that will fuel a future rivalry between the Wolves and Lakers.

“[Coaching JJ Redick] was an absolute pleasure…But it was interesting to coach JJ because I learned a lot from him. I never coached the shooter at that level and then just [seeing how teams] guarded him so differently than even a lot of really good shooters.

So he imparted a lot of tricks of the trade, things that he needed that he had seen through his career. So it’s like anything else, you always learned from really good players. So, not surprised that he’s had success. He’s got a very sharp basketball mind, relates to people extremely well. He’s super competitive. He has all the DNA.”

Chris Finch on JJ Redick – The Orange County Register (April 19, 2025)

@infanitytelevision JJ Redick discussed his relationship with Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch #lakers #jjredick #lakersvstimberwolves #lakeshow #infanitytv #basketballgods ♬ original sound – InfanityTV.com

Plenty of Chris Finch vs JJ Redick in our future?

Having great players makes coaching a lot easier. And both Redick and Finch have enjoyed that luxury since their NBA head coaching careers began. For Chris Finch, he’s gotten to coach up the most talented player to ever put on a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey. Redick has had LeBron and now Luka.

No doubt about it, Anthony Edwards was already showing signs of his greatness back then, even if Karl-Anthony Towns was still the guy. But since Finchy has taken over, Edwards and his Wolves have flourished.

In the future, who knows what Ant and Finchy will do together. The hope is that they’ll end the 30-year curse currently hanging over the professional sports world in this town, and finally bring a men’s major-six title to a fanbase that hasn’t celebrated one since 1991.

To make that happen, however, they’ll have to go through a vaunted Western Conference that includes the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder, Nikola Jokic’ Nuggets and Luka Doncic’ Lakers, a task that they have yet to fully master, as both Shai and Luka have knocked them out of the last two playoffs.

ANT EDWARDS EURO-STEPPING AND SLITHERING INTO THE PAINT 😮‍💨

📺 Timberwolves (3-1) Lakers on TNT pic.twitter.com/5CFsDQc9ht

— NBA (@NBA) May 1, 2025

Related: Kevin Love Knew Jazz Were Cooked Early vs Timberwolves

But for now, the Minnesota Timberwolves have the upper hand on Doncic, LeBron and JJ, whose Lakers they beat handily in last year’s playoffs. Even if the two are buddies, however, I bet Redick will be a little extra motivated to change that this postseason.