A longtime NBA veteran has officially called it a career. JJ Redick announced on Tuesday that he is retiring after 15 seasons in the NBA. The 37-year-old played for six different teams and is also known as one of the best players in college basketball history.
“As a 7-year-old boy, I dreamed of playing at Duke as I got older. I dreamed of playing in the NBA,” Redick said on his The Old Man and the Three podcast, per the Associated Press. “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. 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.”
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Redick was drafted No. 11 overall by the Orlando Magic. He spent seven years in Orlando before joining the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks. Redick played in 940 regular-season games, averaging 12.8 points per game and scoring 1,950 career three-pointers the 15th-most in NBA history.
“Today, I am officially retiring from the game of basketball. Thank you to EVERYONE who was a part of my journey and career,” Redick wrote in an Instagram post. “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.”
Most basketball fans remember Redick during his time at Duke. In his first season with the Blue Devils (2003), Reddick was selected to the All-ACC Third Team. He continued to improve, and it led to him being named the consensus National College Player of the Year in 2006. Redick is a two-time winner of the Rupp Trophy and a two-time consensus first-team All-American. He left Duke as the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,769 points) and still remains Duke’s all-time leader in three-pointers (457). He didn’t win any championships during his time at Duke or the NBA but came close when he was a member of the Magic team that reached the NBA Finals in 2009. The Magic lost the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in that series.
