Nate McMillan, Scott Brooks and the infamous NBA brawl that's a part of JJ Redick's Lakers

LOS ANGELES It was one week into his new job as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers when JJ Redick had a sudden rush of horror.

He had just hired his first two assistant coaches, and he couldnt have been more pleased.

Nate McMillan had 19 years of NBA head-coaching experience.

And Scott Brooks spent 12 years as an NBA head coach.

Both played point guard in the NBA, McMillan for 12 seasons and Brooks for 10.

They had a combined 1,281 wins as coaches.

Advertisement It was the perfect blend of experience, knowledge and credibility that Redick felt he needed beside him as a first-time coach.

But then, the rush of horror: Someone sent him a video.

As Redick watched, his jaw dropped.

There on his screen were McMillan and Brooks at each others throats during a 1993 playoff game.

Their dust-up McMillan elbowing Brooks in the jaw as he drove baseline, and Brooks launching into McMillan in retaliation sparked a bench-clearing brawl in the third quarter of Game 5 between McMillans Seattle SuperSonics and Brooks Houston Rockets.

Both McMillan and Brooks were ejected and later fined.

I was like, Jesus! How did I not know this? Redick remembers saying to himself.

Before Redick had watched the video, he had scheduled a video call with McMillan and Brooks for the next day.

He planned to talk plays, philosophy and ask the veteran coaches how they would map out training camp.

Now, knowing what he knew about their past, he felt he needed a different opening to the meeting.

So, I get on the Zoom the next day, and am like, Uh, first off ...

are you guys OK? Are we good here? Because I was unaware, Redick said.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Basketball News (@basketballnews) Over the last 31 years, McMillan said he and Brooks never really talked to each other about their confrontation.

Even in the immediate wake of the fight, before Game 6, there was no handshake, no apology, no nothing.

And it pretty much stayed that way for three decades.

We didnt acknowledge that until we coached against each other, McMillan said.

And even then, we would just kind of nod at each other and smile.

But you know, in the back of your mind its ...

thats the guy ...

When the two were announced as Redicks top assistants on July 3, the stalemate was broken.

Redick said the two told him they connected on the phone after their hires.

Advertisement They worked it out, Redick said.

Turns out, there wasnt much to work out.

As players, McMillan and Brooks were never the most talented guys on the floor.

They had extended careers because they were smart and scrappy.

The way each held their ground that day in Seattle could have been any other day in their career: No backing down, no inch given.

So, after the incident, there was no need to address it.

Neither player held a grudge.

Neither had regret.

It was business as usual.

But all these years later, a funny thing happened once they joined Redicks staff and got to know each other.

McMillan and Brooks found they are linked by more than just their scuffle.

Were the same guy, McMillan said.

By the time Game 5 arrived in the second-round series between Seattle and Houston in 1993, McMillan was on edge.

McMillan and Brooks were backups McMillan to Gary Payton and Brooks to Kenny Smith and they were beginning to face off more as the series evolved.

Brooks minutes increased from nine and seven in the first two games to 21 minutes in Games 3 and 4.

That meant Brooks and McMillan often going head-to-head.

They had (Vernon) Maxwell over there acting crazy and s, and we were already fired up to play them, McMillan said.

And then, (Brooks) was out there being a pest, scrapping and clawing for everything ...

and I just had enough.

It was a marquee playoff matchup Houston and Seattle both finished 55-27 and were stacked with stars: The Sonics with a young Payton and Shawn Kemp and Houston with accomplished veterans Hakeem Olajuwon, Otis Thorpe and Smith.

In his seventh NBA season, McMillan was a lanky 6-foot-5 floor general, known for his steady and reliable decisions and dogged defense.

Brooks was a pesky, 5-foot-10 jitter bug a pass-first point guard who took pride in being a nuisance on defense.

Advertisement The series was tied 2-2, and as Game 5 unfolded, McMillan and Brooks found themselves tangled and locked up with each other on several occasions.

In the third quarter, McMillan drove left and tried to lose Brooks on a screen by teammate Derrick McKey.

Brooks bounced off McKey and immediately re-engaged with McMillan, touching and bumping him along the way.

They had been banging pretty good, all game, referee Bob Delaney told The Athletic .

I thought they would figure it out one way or another.

They did.

McMillan tried to create space by giving Brooks a nudge with his elbow.

As he continued toward the basket, McMillan gave another elbow.

All the while, Brooks remained unfazed, still attached to McMillans side.

At that point, it was like ...

enough is enough, McMillan said.

McMillan continued driving and rose toward the basket, his elbow catching Brooks flush on the chin.

Brooks responded by lunging at McMillan and grabbing his jersey near the armpits.

Brooks pushed McMillan into the basket stanchion.

Then, mayhem.

Thorpe threw Kemp to the floor.

Players dogpiled under the basket.

Sonics coach George Karl was in the middle of it all, spinning and spewing, later admitting he was trying to get Thorpe to punch him so the Rockets forward would get suspended.

Beneath it all was McMillan and Brooks.

I was trying to get underneath him, McMillan said.

But he was too small ...

so we just went to the floor.

Someone got put in a chokehold ...

and we were all on the floor tussling and all that, but no blows were thrown or anything.

Delaney, the lead official, broke his right pinky while trying to break up the quarrel.

To this day, his pinky juts out at an odd angle.

So, Im reminded of that game daily, Delaney said with a chuckle.

And the funny thing is, those are two good, good guys.

Great guys.

It was just a heat-of-the-battle thing.

Advertisement McMillan and Karl were fined $5,000.

Brooks was fined $2,000.

The Sonics went on to win Game 5, and later the series after a 103-100 win in Game 7, with the lasting image of a memorable series provided by two backups.

It shouldnt have been a surprise that McMillan and Brooks would find themselves tussling on the court.

Brooks, after all, was in seventh grade when his mother drove him to the house of a kid who beat up Brooks .

She watched as her son got his revenge on the kids front lawn.

The lesson: Never get bullied.

McMillan, meanwhile, had his own experience with sticking up for himself.

Earlier in his career, he got into it with Maxwell after the Rockets guard undercut him in a game, and he fought with big men Kevin Willis and Mark Bryant.

Kevin Willis hit me with a cheap shot a screen and I tried to take his head off, McMillan said.

Same thing with Mark Bryant.

Brooks, who has taken a no-media stance since joining the Lakers, twice declined to be interviewed for this story.

Its not because Brooks harbors ill feelings or regret about the incident.

We laugh about it all the time now, McMillan said.

The first thing I saw when they announced they had signed both of us was the video (of the fight).

And my daughter (Brittany) was like, Dad!?! What is going on? She had never seen that, she didnt know.

And Scottys kid and wife said the same thing: What are you guys doing? It didnt take long for McMillan to discover he and Brooks share something more than a memorable tussle.

He is the coolest MFer, man, McMillan said.

I could hang with him.

McMillan related to Brooks backstory a 10-year NBA career after being undrafted and he remembered his hard-nosed style of play.

We both had to come up through this s the hard way, McMillan said.

We werent scorers; we were hard-hat guys.

Glue guys.

We had to scrap in order to make it in this league.

Advertisement As McMillan spent more time with Brooks, he also became drawn to his knowledge and the way Brooks interacted with people.

We are very similar, McMillan said.

We are no-nonsense.

Old school.

But he is different from me in that he can communicate in a way that I cant.

Like, you look at me, and you dont know if we are up 40 or down 40.

Scotty actually smiles.

He actually has a personality.

And that makes him great with the staff and the team.

Like, I could play for him.

Just a great deal of respect for him.

When Redick was hired in June, the extent of his sideline experience was coaching his sons third-grade team in Brooklyn.

As a result, Redick said he and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka wanted to hire two former head coaches to assist him.

Redick, a sharpshooter who logged 15 seasons in the NBA, never played for McMillan or Brooks.

He said his interaction with McMillan was limited to a 2018 free-agency pitch made by Indiana, when McMillan was the head coach (Redick chose to sign with Philadelphia).

However, Redick played a season and a half with New Orleans, where McMillans son, Jamelle, was a player development coach.

I just always felt really comfortable with the person and character of Nate, Redick said.

And as my name got involved in the coaching stuff, I had a half-dozen people reach out and say, Non-negotiable, you have to hire Scotty Brooks.

Redick says they have both been perfect fits because each can offer a different perspective.

I call both of them my spiritual gurus, Redick said.

They are great with the Xs and Os stuff our entire staff is but I think with them, its just ...

they have seen everything having been in the NBA 35-40 years.

There are three or four times a week where Im like, Hey, did I handle that right? How should I handle this ...

and what did your teams do when they were going through X, Y, Z? They have lived it all.

Advertisement McMillan, who last coached the Atlanta Hawks in 2023, said the offer to join Redicks staff was too good to turn down.

He said he knew he was done with head coaching after being fired by the Hawks, but the chance to coach LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and to not have to deal with the headaches of being a head coach appealed to him.

Im over the first seat.

Im done with that, McMillan said.

My thing is to assist JJ and give him my thoughts, and whatever he decides, assist him on his decision.

Im not the offensive coach.

Im not the defensive coach.

I just kind of chat with everybody, help with game management, and, if he has any questions, tell him what I see.

One of the first pieces of advice McMillan offered involved James, one of the games biggest superstars.

He implored Redick to hold firm and believe in his system, believe in his coaching, even if James pushes back.

One thing Ive learned as Ive played and coached in this league is those stars want to be coached, too, McMillan said.

They want to be coached, and they need to be coached.

So, Im telling JJ here that LeBron, hes going to question everything ...

because hes great.

But if you believe what you are doing, its OK.

Its that old saying: If we are both agreeing on everything, then s, we dont need one of you.

McMillan said Redick has been exceptional in the way he has delivered his message to the Lakers.

He said its like watching one of the games Redick called when he was an announcer for ESPN.

Hes almost like Hubie (Brown), how when you watch one of his games, he makes you understand it, McMillan said.

Hes doing that for his players.

The Xs and Os, and putting all that together he has to work on that, and he has (assistant) Greg St.

Jean, who is really helping him.

All that will come.

But his ability to communicate with players, hes been great.

He challenges them all; he coaches them all.

And hes not afraid of LeBron.

He respects him, but he says what he thinks and what he wants to say.

And somewhere down the line this season, Redick says he will hold a special film session with the team.

It will be the clip from Game 5 of the 1993 playoffs, when two assistants on the Lakers bench went head-to-head ...

and beyond.

At some point, Im going to show that clip to the team, Redick said.

Just so they can understand who those two fs are.

(Photo illustration: Dan Goldfarb/The Athletic; Getty; Nathaniel S.

Butler/NBAE, Thearon W.

Henderson).

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