LeBron James, JJ Redick teaming up for new basketball-centric podcast

LeBron James and JJ Redick are teaming up on a podcast planned to be a pure conversation about basketball, James, Redick and James’ business partner, Maverick Carter, told The Athletic.

“It’s meant to be a very free-flowing conversation about the sport and about the game,” Redick said in a phone interview. “If you look at it in a very simplistic way, it’s just about basketball.”

The show, “Mind the Game,” will begin with no corporate partners as James, considered one of the greatest players of all-time, and Redick, a 15-year NBA veteran who is now part of ABC/ESPN’s NBA Finals crew, want it to be as organic as possible. It has no set advertising sponsor yet.

The duo is producing the new venture with their two companies, James’ Uninterrupted and Redick’s ThreeFourTwo Productions.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve done to innovate in sports media,” James said in a statement to The Athletic. “… When I do a project, the only thing I think about is whether me and my friends would watch it. That is definitely the case with ‘Mind the Game.’ Everything doesn’t need to be designed for internet culture and clicks.”

The first show will debut Tuesday and is expected to be weekly, running 45 minutes to an hour per episode. It will be available on YouTube and all podcast platforms. There will be other guests on some of the shows, Redick said.

The concept of the program is meant to be a departure from talk shows like ESPN’s “First Take,” where Redick is a contributor. Those shows regularly debate subjective opinions about sports, while James and Redick plan to delve deeper into the actual game of basketball.

“This is like two wine masters, sommeliers, talking about wine, not necessarily you or me arguing if I like Burgundy or Bordeaux better,” said Carter, the co-founder and CEO of Uninterrupted.

The pairing of the most iconic current player and one of the NBA Finals TV game analysts came together quickly after James and Redick bounced it back and forth in December. They have already taped two episodes.

In one clip from the forthcoming podcast, viewed by The Athletic, the setting is very casual, with the hosts drinking red wine and talking in great detail about how to guard a pick play.

“I love talking basketball, by the way,” James said at the end of the clip.

James, 39, can pick the projects he wants, in much the same way Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have done after their legendary careers that created nearly unlimited media opportunities.

“The way he talks about the game, the way he communicates the game, it’s beautiful,” Redick said.

Redick, also 39, retired from playing just three years ago. He has quickly transitioned into a full-time media career, combining new school (with his own podcast, “The Old Man and the Three,” and his own production company) to go with traditional roles, such as being on network studio shows.

In February, ESPN promoted Redick to its No. 1 NBA broadcast team with Mike Breen and Doris Burke. The move was necessitated by Doc Rivers leaving for the Milwaukee Bucks’ head-coaching job.

James and Redick teaming together is another example of athletes and ex-athletes having a forum to talk about what they want, when and where they want it.

“We don’t have to wait or partner with anybody if we have an amazing idea,” Carter said. “Those guys were just ready to go. They were ready to get in the room, and we didn’t want to overthink it, over-produce it.”

Redick said while they will talk about the small nuances of the game, they will delve into other topics, mentioning youth basketball and the Olympics.

“I think both of us feel there is more that we can give,” Redick said.

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(Photo of LeBron James and JJ Redick in December 2017: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)