A former member of the Philadelphia 76ers and one of the greatest shooters in NBA history looks to be hanging up his sneakers. JJ Redick, who first entered the league in 2006 and later spent two seasons with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in Philly, has officially announced his retirement from basketball.
The announcement came during the September 21 episode of Redick’s podcast, The Old Man and the Three.
“As a seven-year-old boy, I dreamed of playing at Duke. As I got older, I dreamed of playing in the NBA. The last 30 years of basketball have been beyond my wildest dreams. I never could have imagined that I would have played basketball for this long,” Redick said before making his decision official.
“After years of youth leagues, AAU, high school basketball, four years at Duke and 15 years in the NBA, I’m retiring from the game that I love so much.”
Over 940 career games with six teams, Redick averaged 12.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest. Along the way, he connected on 41.5% of his three-point shots; his 1,950 career triples currently rank as the 15th most in league history.
The Bitter End
Redick revealed that retirement had been on his mind for some time. However, his swan song didn’t play out quite as he had hoped.
“Going into last season I wanted it to be my last year, but wasn’t sure how it would play out,” he said.
“I would like to describe last season as a seven-month exercise in coming face to face with my own athletic mortality.”
After playing a key role with the Sixers from 2017 to ’19, Redick made the surprising decision to move on to the New Orleans Pelicans. Initially, it looked to be a winning partnership — in 60 games with NOLA during the ’19-20 campaign, he put up 15.3 points per game and hit on 45.3% of his long-range attempts.
The wheels came off last season, though.
Injuries limited Redick to 31 games and both his lowest effective field goal percentage and scoring average in several years before the Pels opted to trade him to the Dallas Mavericks. Although the move put him back in the playoff mix, Redick was largely a non-factor in 13 games for Dallas down the stretch.
“It’s time for me to dad,” Redick said about moving to the next phase of his life.
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Redick’s Sixers Tenure Was Largely a Success
After the Lob City era came crashing down in Los Angeles, Redick was scooped up by the Sixers on a one-year, $23 million deal in 2017. He went on to post a 17-3-3 line and make 42% of his three-pointers in Philly. In doing so, he helped the Sixers win 52 games and advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The following summer, he returned to the team on a second one-year pact and put up similar statistics. Meanwhile, the Sixers crossed the 50-win mark once again and made a return trip to the second round of postseason play where they took the eventual champion Toronto Raptors to seven games.
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Former Sixers Sharpshooter Announces Retirement