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 couldn’t 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.

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 other’s 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 McMillan’s 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.

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 didn’t 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 it’s … that’s the guy …”

When the two were announced as Redick’s top assistants on July 3, the stalemate was broken. Redick said the two told him they connected on the phone after their hires.

“They worked it out,” Redick said.

Turns out, there wasn’t 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 his ground that day in Seattle could have been any other day in their careers: 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 Redick’s staff and got to know each other. McMillan and Brooks found they are linked by more than just their scuffle.

“We’re 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.

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 McMillan’s 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, I’m 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.”

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 shouldn’t 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. It’s 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 didn’t know. And Scotty’s kid and wife said the same thing: ‘What are you guys doing?’”

It didn’t 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 weren’t scorers; we were hard-hat guys. Glue guys. We had to scrap in order to make it in this league.”

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 can’t. Like, you look at me, and you don’t 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 son’s 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 McMillan’s 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 X’s and O’s stuff — our entire staff is — but I think with them, it’s just … they have seen everything having been in the NBA 35-40 years. There are three or four times a week where I’m 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.”

McMillan, who last coached the Atlanta Hawks in 2023, said the offer to join Redick’s 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.

“I’m over the first seat. I’m 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. I’m not the offensive coach. I’m 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 game’s biggest superstars. He implored Redick to hold firm and believe in his system, believe in his coaching, even if James pushes back.

“One thing I’ve learned as I’ve 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, I’m telling JJ here that LeBron, he’s going to question everything … because he’s great. But if you believe what you are doing, it’s OK. It’s that old saying: If we are both agreeing on everything, then s—, we don’t need one of you.’”

JJ Redick hired Brooks (center) and McMillan without realizing their history. “I was like, ‘Jesus! How did I not know this?’’’ Redick remembers saying to himself. (Harry How/Getty Images)

McMillan said Redick has been exceptional in the way he has delivered his message to the Lakers. He said it’s like watching one of the game’s Redick called when he was an announcer for ESPN.

“He’s almost like Hubie (Brown), how when you watch one of his games, he makes you understand it,’’ McMillan said. “He’s doing that for his players. The X’s and O’s, 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, he’s been great. He challenges them all; he coaches them all. And he’s 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, I’m going to show that clip to the team,’’ Redick said. “Just so they can understand who those two f—s are.’’

(Photo illustration: Dan Goldfarb/The Athletic; Getty; Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, Thearon W. Henderson)

Bill Belichick knows his former pupil and New England Patriots successor Jerod Mayo was fired after just one season. 

But what’s happening with the team he won six Super Bowls with is the least of his worries at the moment. 

During his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Belichick, who was in suit and tie on a recruiting trip for his new gig as the North Carolina Tar Heels head football coach, said the Patriots never gave him a ring as they decided to fire Mayo after going 4-13 this year.

“The Patriots’ situation, honestly, I don’t have too much of a comment on that,” Belichick told McAfee and his crew. “Robert Kraft, Jonathan Kraft, Robyn Glaser, they’re the decision makers there.

“Mayo was hand-picked by Robert, but in the end, the decision-making is something they’d have to comment on.

“I really don’t know from the outside looking in. They haven’t called me and asked, so I don’t know.”

PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT SHOULDERS BLAME AFTER FIRING JEROD MAYO: ‘WHOLE SITUATION IS ON ME’

Of course, McAfee had to ask Belichick after his replacement being one-and-done in Foxborough, but a new journey for the legendary coach is well under way as he continues to try and build his first roster at Chapel Hill. 

As Belichick mentioned, Kraft hand-picked Mayo, who was already on Belichick’s staff, as the Patriots’ next head coach this past offseason. It came after the team and Belichick mutually parted ways following a 4-13 season, ending a 24-year relationship that brought about arguably football’s best head coach of all-time. 

Robert Kraft speaks during the Historic Roots of Black and Jewish Solidarity at 92NY on March 07, 2024 in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Mayo played for the Patriots from 2008-15, winning a Super Bowl with the franchise during the 2014 campaign. Belichick eventually brought him onto his coaching staff in 2019 as a linebackers coach before Kraft made his choice last year. 

But Kraft shouldered the blame on Monday when addressing reporters about Mayo, saying that the “whole situation is on me” in regard to his decision to let Mayo go after only one season. 

“I feel terrible for Jerod, because I put him in an untenable situation,” Kraft added. “I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job.

“In the end, I’m a fan of this team first, and now I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the playoffs and hopefully championships.”

North Carolina Tar Heels new head coach Bill Belichick speaks to the media at Loudermilk Center for Excellence. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

While the Patriots embark on yet another head coach search, in which another Belichick former player in Mike Vrabel is expected to be top of mind as Mayo’s replacement, the 72-year-old coach’s inaugural season with the Tar Heels has a large spotlight on it, given this will be Belichick’s first-ever college gig in his illustrious career.

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Michelle Siemienowski’s first season as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader came to an exciting conclusion Sunday — so exciting that she deemed it necessary to provide an update on her well-being later that day on social media.

“I’m alright everyone,” the San Diego native posted on her Instagram Stories, along with a video clip that showed her getting bonked on the head with the football on an errant kickoff by Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey during the Cowboys’ season-ending loss Sunday to the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium.

The incident happened early in the second quarter after Aubrey’s second field goal of the day, which gave Dallas a 6-0 lead. Aubrey kicked off from the 50 yard-line because of a Washington penalty and unintentionally booted the ball out of bounds at around the 10, which just happened to be where Siemienowski and her squad were standing on the sideline.

A Fox Sports cameraman attempted to block the ball as it came down, but it bounced off his hand and then high off the right side of an unsuspecting Siemienowski’s head. The hard hit knocked Siemienowski forward onto her hands and knees, but she stood up immediately with a smile on her face, although possibly with a tear or two in her eyes.

“Claiming the motto cry now laugh later,” she wrote on another Instagram Story post that also featured a clip of her taking a moment in a chair on the sideline after the incident and laughing when a fellow Cowboys cheerleader offers her what appears to be a beer.

In the clip, Commanders punter Tress Way appears to ask if she’s OK, and Siemienowski smiles and seems to indicate that she’s fine.

Later on TikTok, Siemienowski posted another video of her knock to the noggin, this time humorously set to music.

“Trying to make light of the situation,” she wrote. “I am doing alright for those wondering!”

The Times was unable to reach Siemienowski. The Cowboys, who finished 7-10 and did not make the NFL postseason, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to her Instagram page, Siemienowski graduated from UC Santa Barbara in June with degrees in economics and dance. She also spent four years on the UCSB dance team before trying out for the Cowboys cheerleading squad this summer.