Lakers head coach JJ Redick addresses heated altercation with Jarred Vanderbilt

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has addressed the heated altercation with Jarred Vanderbilt during Tuesday's NBA game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The heavily undermanned Lakers suffered a second defeat to the OKC in less than a week at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday, as tempers flared during a 123-87 blowout defeat. Vanderbilt appeared to almost get physical with Redick during the heated moment in the second quarter.

The Lakers' head coach entered Vanderbilt into the match with 4:25 left in the first quarter. The 27-year-old was supposed to play the rest of the period and started the second quarter as well.

However, Redick substituted Jarred out for Dalton Knecht just 16 seconds into the second quarter.

During a timeout, Vanderbilt was seen confronting Redick, who was discussing a play with his assistant coach, Nate McMillan.

Jarred Vanderbilt and JJ Redick appeared to exchange words on the Lakers’ bench as well.

However, Redick has downplayed the confrontation with Vanderbilt, saying all was well when asked about the incident.

“Just a confluence of things,” Redick said.

“Again, it’s nothing personal with him. Normal stuff from my end. 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 was then asked why he decided to sub Vanderbilt out at that moment.

“It was a confluence of things,” Redick stated.