At the age of 37, JJ Redick is retiring from the NBA after a 15 year career.
He played for 6 different NBA franchises averaging close to 13 points per game, and will retire having hit the 15th most 3-pointers in NBA history.
Despite an impressive NBA run, it’s his time at Duke that will be most remembered. He was an All ACC performer every year in college, he was a 2-time All American, and won National Player of the Year in his final season with the Blue Devils.
During that senior campaign, the numbers were staggering. He scored 964 points total, averaging almost 27 per game, all while shooting 47 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3. He would enter the NBA Draft as the ACC’s all time leading scorer. The most prestigious conference in college basketball history.
God I hated him, and I wasn’t alone.
He was my generation’s Christian Laettner. There could be a 30 for 30 released today called “I Hate JJ Redick” and it would resonate with ACC basketball fans born after 1990, the same way Laettner’s doc hit with fans born before then. The same exact way.
Except, maybe not so much. Maybe not anymore.
Redick admitted on the Pardon My Take Podcast last year, how all that hatred pushed him to manufacture villainy. He sad he almost quit after his sophomore year because it messed him up. He tried to break away from the Duke identity his first 2 seasons in the league, and it worked.
Time will always help the feelings die down, but I think it’s fair to say Redick may have actually become one of the most liked players in the NBA.
He really couldn’t be hated early in his Magic days because he wasn’t good enough until his 4th year. And by the time he was playing his best basketball in the league, he had already grown at 30 years old. His highest scoring season came just 3 years ago when he was 34 with Philadelphia.
We’ve also been given the chance to know him personally through his popular podcast “The Old Man and the Three”.
JJ Redick will retire having accomplished a million things. He reached the playoffs every year he played until the end, he’s statistically one of the best shooters of all time, and we already went through his college accolades.
This time, unlike 2004 when he contemplated quitting, JJ gets to retire with people embracing him.
