Longtime NBA shooting guard JJ Redick announced his retirement from the NBA on Tuesday.
“Thank you to everyone who was a part of my journey and career,” he wrote on Instagram. “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.”
He jumpstarted that career on Lost Mountain Road in Roanoke, Virginia.
“The last 30 years of basketball have been beyond my wildest dreams,” he said on his “Old Man and the Three” podcast. “I never could have imagined I would’ve played basketball for this long.”
Redick, 37, spent 15 years in the NBA and played for six teams. He averaged 12.8 points and shot 44.7% from the field and 41.5% on 3-pointers.
After starring in high school and then at Duke for four seasons where he was a two-time ACC player of the year, Redick was drafted by the Orlando with the No. 11 overall pick in 2006.played basketball for this long.”
He began his NBA career as a seldom-used reserve, but as the 3-point shot took on more importance and Redick became a better defensive player, his minutes increased. By his fifth season, he was a double-digit scorer.
Redick became an important player for the Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers, shooting a league-best 47.5% on 3-pointers in 2015-16 for the Clippers and averaging a career-high 18.1 points in 2018-19 with the 76ers.
“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.”
