Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick is flat-out denying he called a woman the N-word while a member of the Duke men's basketball team ... saying the interaction simply never happened.
Halleemah Nash -- an author, speaker, and Duke alum -- dropped the bombshell allegation on social media on Tuesday ... claiming, "I've only been called the N word to my face by a white man once in my life and it was on the campus of Duke University while I was doing work with the basketball team."
"And today he was named the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. What a world."
Redick -- a former college basketball superstar at Duke and 15-year NBA veteran -- was introduced as the 29th head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.
The allegation was posted on Nash's account at 9:10 AM on Tuesday ... and, as of the time of this post, was viewed 10 million times.
We reached out to Redick's camp for a response to the claim ... and they completely shut it down.
"No, it never happened," a spokesperson tells TMZ Sports.
Prior to joining the Lakers, Redick most recently worked the NBA Finals for ESPN ... and had several podcasts, including "Mind the Game" with LeBron James -- who could choose to stay in L.A. and play under the former sharpshooter this offseason.