After being formally introduced as the twenty ninth head coach in Los Angeles Lakers history, rumors began to emerge that JJ Redick had used racial slurs in the past.

The former NBA star sparked countless debates when reports surfaced that he had agreed to a head coaching contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. Although his lack of previous coaching experience was widely discussed, his hiring once more brought allegations of racism to the fore.

Halleemah Nash, a social media user whose bio says she is a Duke University graduate, accused Redick of calling her the N-word on the school’s campus. Redick played college basketball at Duke from 2002-2006 and was named National College Player of the Year after his final season with the Blue Devils.

“Only once in my life has a white man called me the N-word to my face, and that was on the campus of Duke University when I was working on the basketball team.” he tweeted Nash June 25. “And today he was named the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. What a world.”

In a separate tweet, Nash added: “For context, this was many years ago and I believe we all have room to grow, especially as we mature at the college level. We live in a world where these exchanges are happening, and the intersection of race, privilege and lack of responsibility has collided with this pressure.”

According to LinkedIn page Bearing the surname Nasha, she coordinated the “Blue Devil Inner City Youth Project” with the university’s basketball team in 2003-2004.

Redick’s representatives categorically denied any wrongdoing after Nash’s social media post received greater than 18 million views and counting.

“No, something like this has never happened,” the spokesman said he said TMZ Sports.

While it’s unclear whether Redick actually said the word, fans continued to share their reactions to the claims.

“Many people are too young to remember JJ from Duke, but those who can probably aren’t too shocked by this story,” one person he wrote on X

“I remember him, he was one of my favorite players and I’m definitely shocked,” one other person said.

However, it would not be the first time Redick has been in the highlight for using racial slurs. The latest allegations led fans to unearth several other instances during which the former NBA star was accused of using offensive language.

In 2018, Redick faced backlash when he apparently used the Asian word “fissure.” Redick tried to wish basketball fans a Happy Chinese New Year, but apparently used offensive language as an alternative.

Redick appears in a video wishing “all NBA Chink Chinese fans a very happy Chinese New Year.”

At the time of the incident, he was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.

He later apologized for using profanity and stated that it was simply a result of his “lack of linguistic fluency” and that the word was not part of his “vocabulary”.

“No doubt the language was unclear to me because the word I allegedly said was not in my dictionary. “I’m disappointed that anyone would think I would use that word,” it wrote on Twitter in February 2018.

He then tried to clarify his behavior.

“(S)orry if I upset anyone,” he was about to say something else before he said it.
“I meant to say ‘Chinese NBA fans.’ It sounded weird in my head, so I changed it mid-sentence to “NBA fans in China”… It got here out the unsuitable way.

He continued: “At the time we were recording it, no one in the room…heard a word I allegedly said. If I had known it sounded like that, I would have been embarrassed and would have recorded the greeting again.”

The apology tweets have since been deleted.

Redick appeared to be coping with a volatile situation in his personal life as well, when he was accused of calling his ex-girlfriend a “dirty n***a” and “sc” because she didn’t terminate her pregnancy as required by the alleged “abortion agreement.”

Contents contract, which was allegedly made in 2007, was originally published by gossip site MediaTakeout as an exclusive in 2013. Redick, who was a 22-year-old debutant in 2007, allegedly made an agreement with model Vanessa Lopez that if she got pregnant, she would terminate the pregnancy and they might remain in a relationship for at the very least a yr after the procedure. If Redick rescinds their agreement to remain together, he may have to pay Lopez $25,000. If they broke up and Lopez wasn’t pregnant, Redick would don’t have any obligations and any further contact with Lopez can be considered stalking.

Lopez claims she got pregnant, angering the NBA rookie.

Redick reportedly sent emails to Lopez just after she had an abortion at 16 weeks of pregnancy in 2007. In 2014, Lopez shared the alleged emails with a pro-life website Life news after announcing that he intended to put in writing a book about his experiences.

An email allegedly sent by Redick to Lopez on September 13, 2007 read: “Vanessa, we need to confirm that you did this. It will be easier for you now, trust me. If you really had an abortion, just get a test to prove it.”

The second alleged email was sent by Redick to Lopez’s brother on September 26, 2007, and contained quite a few insults and allegedly a picture of a monkey.

“Greg, my brother-in-law left her a voicemail calling her a unclean n***a. We have problems if this silly sp-c leaks this. What the hell can we do?

In July 2013, Redick took to Twitter to disclaim the allegations made against him by Lopez.

In a series of tweets, he said: “I would love to answer the outrageous, false and malicious media reports regarding my past relationship with V Lopez in 2007. Mrs. Lopez was not and never was pregnant with a toddler fathered by Ja. And Mrs. Lopez didn’t and has never terminated the pregnancy of the child whose father I’m. Constantly calling attention to those lies is seriously harmful to me and my family. Thank you.”

It was never determined whether there was any truth to the accusations. Lopez has a history of making unsubstantiated claims against skilled athletes, including Shaquille O’Neal. In 2010, she filed a lawsuit claiming that the former player stalked her after their affair.

TMZ reports that a judge insulted Lopez by dismissing her lawsuit in 2013, saying, “(Lopez) lied frequently. She lied about facts important to the defense and showed a complete lack of respect for the justice system.”

Since then, Lopez has not backed down from her claims about Redick. As for the Lakers’ latest head coach, he has not personally responded to the discourse surrounding his alleged use of the N-word against a Duke alum.