Getty Dallas Mavericks wing JJ Redick fires up a shot during a bout with the Detroit Pistons.
When the Dallas Mavericks acquired sharpshooter JJ Redick at the trade deadline last season, hope abounded that he could help the team in its playoff pursuits. In short order, though, it became apparent that his goose was cooked.
Much as he had done during the first half of the year with the Pels, Redick failed to burn up the nets at the same rate longtime fans had become accustomed to. In 13 regular-season games with Dallas, he averaged 4.4 points on just 35.8% shooting. He went on to miss the playoffs entirely with a heel injury.
So, when Redick opted to hang it up in September, it wasn’t exactly a huge surprise. He had an incredible career, scoring more than 12,000 points and finishing in the top 15 all-time in three-point makes with 1,950. But he was no longer that guy.
As rough as things got during his last go-round in the NBA, though, Redick apparently came close to getting another big-time payday before he called it quits.
The Sign-and-Trade That Never Came to Pass
During the November 5 episode of his podcast, The Old Man and the Three, Redick spoke with Kyle Korver about his own decision to stop playing. Surprisingly, Korver made a point to say that he hadn’t actually retired officially, noting that Keith Van Horn was once able to get “like five million bucks” to help make a trade work.
That triggered a memory for Redick, who subsequently revealed that he nearly found himself in a similar situation before he made his own retirement official.
“About a week before free agency, my agent and I are talking, and I said to him, ‘I’m not ready to commit to anything right now,'” Redick recounted. “There were, whatever, teams were gauging interest. I said, ‘I’m not ready to commit to anything. So, on August 2nd, please just tell them I’ll talk to them later in the fall or early winter.'”
The very next day, however, his agent approached him with a potentially lucrative offer.
“He said, ‘Dallas has your rights, basically. There’s a team that may do a sign-and-trade with them. If that’s the case, they’ve got to use you and your salary to make it work. You could make about 16 million.’ And I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll play another year!'”
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What Player Was Dallas Targeting?
Ultimately, the deal Redick was referring to didn’t come to fruition. He doesn’t seem too broken up about the way things played out, though. “Both teams went in a different direction, and it didn’t happen, which is fine,” he said. “It’s… whatever.”
However, fans in the Big D are now left to wonder — who was it that the Mavs were targeting?
As relayed by NBC Sports’ Dan Feldman, the Mavs were linked to a number of high profile players over the summer:
They were linked to Kyle Lowry (who ultimately went from the Raptors to the Heat in a sign-and-trade), to Mike Conley (who re-signed with the Jazz), to Kawhi Leonard (who re-signed with the Clippers), to John Collins (who re-signed with the Hawks) and to Lauri Markkanen (who went from the Bulls to the Cavaliers in a sign-and-trade).
A sign-and-trade could have been useful in acquiring Collins or Markkanen, who were both restricted free agents. Even an unrestricted free agent coming via sign-and-trade rather than cap space could have helped Dallas. That would’ve allowed the Mavericks to still re-sign Tim Hardaway Jr. through Bird Rights and use the mid-level exception (ultimately used on Reggie Bullock).
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