After 15 seasons in the NBA, guard JJ Redick announced his retirement from the league in a video posted on social media Tuesday (PHT).
Redick, the former No. 11 pick of the 2006 Draft, played for six teams in his NBA career and spent last season with the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks. He averaged 12.8 points in 940 regular-season games, and his 1,950 career makes from 3-point range rank him 15th in NBA history in that category.
“I never could have imagined I would play basketball this long,” Redick said in the latest episode of his podcast, “The Old Man and the Three,” posted on Tuesday morning. “Going into last season, I wanted it to be my last year but I wasn’t sure how it would play out. I would like to describe last season as a seven-month exercise in coming face to face with my own athletic mortality.
“I have some clarity now. And I know it’s time. It’s time for me to be a dad. It’s time for me to reflect, to pause, and it’s time for me to get ready for the next phase of my life.”
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— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) September 21, 2021
In a message posted on his Instagram account, Redick wrote the following:
“First team. Last team. So GRATEFUL for everything in between. Today, I am officially retiring from the game of basketball. Thank you to EVERYONE who was a part of my journey and career. I started playing basketball 30 years ago in my backyard on an uneven patch of dirt, gravel, and grass. It was on that court that my dreams began to form. Reality has far surpassed my dreams!! So thankful for 15 years in the NBA and all the amazing relationships and memories along the way.”
Redick is Duke’s all-time leading scorer, with 2,769 points in his college career. He also remains Duke’s all-time leader in 3-pointers by a wide margin with 457 and free-throw accuracy at 91.2%. Redick averaged 26.8 points — another Duke record — as a senior, on his way to the AP player of the year honor.
He was one of the best 3-point shooters of his era, making 200 or more 3-pointers four times in five seasons from 2014-19. He led the NBA at 47.5% shooting from long range during the 2015-16 season with the LA Clippers.
He appeared in the NBA playoffs in each of his first 13 pro seasons, got to the NBA Finals with Orlando in 2009 and had a career-high 40-point game for the Clippers in an overtime win over Houston on Jan. 18, 2016.
His best overall season came in 2018-19, when he posted 18.1 ppg, 2.4 rpg and 2.7 apg while shooting 44% overall and 39.7% on 3-pointers for the Philadelphia 76ers. Last season, Redick dealt with a nagging heel injury that limited him to 44 games, his lowest total since 2013-14, as he was traded from the Pelicans to the Mavs at the trade deadline.
Injuries limited him to 44 games for the Pelicans and Mavericks last season, when he shot 37% — the second-lowest mark of his career — from 3-point range and averaged only 7.4 points, the first time he wasn’t a double-digit scorer in more than a decade.
“It was difficult for a number of reasons,” Redick said. “Being injured, being away from my family, COVID protocols and really, truly not playing up to my standards. I would like to describe last season as a seven-month exercise in coming face-to-face with my own athletic mortality, and it was scary and confusing.”
Some teams inquired about his availability for this season, Redick said, and he told them that he would wait before deciding if he wanted to play one more year. And now, with training camps around the league beginning next week, he has made his choice.
Overall, Redick played for the Orlando Magic (2006-13), Milwaukee Bucks (2013), Clippers (2013-17), 76ers (2017-19), Pelicans (2019-21) and Mavericks (2021) in his NBA career. He steadily developed from a rotation player with the Magic to become a starter from 2013-20 with the Clippers, 76ers and Pelicans.
In those seasons, he averaged 16.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.0 apg while shooting 45.9% overall and 43% on 3-pointers.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
