JJ Redick announced his retirement last week in a move that shocked the whole NBA. Before he made the decision and official announcement, though, he apparently made one last call to his former Los Angeles Clippers teammate Chris Paul.
In the latest episode of his “The Old Man and the Three” podcast, Redick opened up about the emotional moment he had with Paul. According to the former Clippers shooting guard, his family, friends and inner circle already knew about his decision, but he had this “weird feeling” he had to make one more call the night before he makes his retirement official.
“And I realized who that call was. It was Chris. I called Chris, and I don’t wanna get emotional, but I called him,” Redick shared, per Larry Brown Sports.
“I told him what was happening. What I said to him was, ‘The only thing I would change about my career in terms of an outcome, I wish I had won a championship. If there was one person that I played with in my career that I could win that championship with, it was you.' And I mean that sincerely. I wish it was Chris.”
JJ Redick and Chris Paul played together on the Clippers from 2013 to 2017, finding so much regular season success together as backcourt partners. Unfortunately, the team has never had much success in the playoffs, failing to advance past the second round in multiple tries.
Redick eventually left the Clippers in 2017 to join the Philadelphia 76ers, while Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets in the same summer as the LA team enters a rebuild.
The Lob City Clippers are undoubtedly one of the more exciting teams in the NBA over the past decade, and it would have been great to see Paul, Redick, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan compete for the title in their primes. However, they just couldn't get over that playoff hump.
Still, it's pretty nice for Redick to call Paul and share his decision with him. It just goes to show the impact that CP3 has on his teammates, even though not all of it is good.
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