JJ Redick is officially a former NBA player. A couple of weeks ago, the veteran announced he would retire from the game after a remarkable 15-year stint in the association.
At some point, he was linked with a move back to Philadelphia or Brooklyn to play for the championship favorite Nets. In the end, he decided to call it a career and finish his time in the association after a tumultuous 2020/21 campaign.
Now he has a lot of free time to spend with his family, focus on his projects, and explain what he won’t miss from being a professional basketball player. Talking with Los Angeles Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony, Redick admitted he wouldn’t miss media day or traveling to certain cities to play consecutive games (9:18).
“I realized that I did this s**t for 15 years. I will not miss media day. I will not miss training camp. I will not miss a Cleveland, Memphis back-to-back. I won’t miss that at all,” said the sharpshooter.
Redick admitted that he would miss playing in front of 20K people, going against the best athletes in the world of sports and the good times he spent with teammates. However, when he realized that he couldn’t spend time with his family, things changed and prompted him to make the decision.
He’s now working on different things, seeing the league from the outside and not just as a player-podcaster. He lived plenty of good moments during his time as a pro, but it’s time for a change.
Even Carmelo agreed with him that a back-to-back of Cleveland and Memphis is tough, so this probably will be a relief for Melo when he hangs the shoes, too. Meanwhile, he’s ready to compete for the championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, a team with big aspirations this campaign.
