The Sixers are among a small group of teams that have expressed an interest in acquiring sniper JJ Redick, according to a new report by Shams Charania of The Athletic. The Celtics and the Nets are the other teams being approached by New Orleans about a deal.
There is a lot of familiarity between the parties involved here, to say the least. Redick arguably had the most successful streak of his career playing for Philadelphia from 2017 to 2019, serving as the fifth starter in the star-studded roster that led eventual champion Raptors to seven games in the 2019 playoffs.
Redick’s chemistry with Joel Embiid was something that the franchise center spoke openly about last season’s foul, and Embiid expressed interest in trying to recreate with Seth Curry after the Sixers added him in the off season. Obviously, there is a good appeal to bring the man back to further increase the attack, reconnecting a pair that knows how to play together instinctively.
The only other part of his career as good or better than running with Philly was his season playing with Doc Rivers in Los Angeles. Redick’s ability to catch and shoot in motion was one of the many dangerous pieces of the “Lob City” attack developed by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, and Redick’s success under Rivers is partly because there was optimism that the new coach of the Sixers could get value from guys like Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and even newcomer Isaiah Joe when he arrived this off-season.
(Whether that connection is really beneficial is another story. These Clippers were a notoriously grouchy group, and although I’m sure they’ve all gotten over it to some extent, there have been conflicting quotes and reports from all parties about, in the absence of a better word, the vibes in LA Rivers claimed years ago that Redick really wanted to return to LA the year he arrived in Philadelphia as a free agent, something Redick officially contested.)
The central issue is the same as always during the trading season. How much would it cost to put Redick in a Sixers uniform, and does it make sense to bring him back?
Something worth noting to start this thought exercise: Redick is having the worst year he has ever had in probably a decade, shooting terribly at a small role off the bench for the Pelicans. While you would certainly expect his shooting numbers to normalize a little, he is winning less than 30% of his three, and as Sixers fans know well, he is not exactly a dynamic threat to attack the basket. Add the defensive doubts he has at the age of 36, deeply in his career, and you obviously hope to bring him as a bank weapon and not a key contributor as he was in the past.
Then there is the question of making the numbers work. Redick is earning more than $ 13 million this season in the last year of his contract with the Pelicans, a figure that requires a lot of effort to match Philly. If the Sixers were interested in sending Danny Green, for example, they could make a one-to-one exchange with nothing else involved. But that kind of deal doesn’t make sense to Philly, given the difference in defense and age between the two players, and Green’s contract is basically the only way to make one. main update sometime this season without giving up one of your stars.
As a pure value proposition, it makes sense to combine some bank guys with decent wages (for example, Mike Scott, Terrance Ferguson) in Redick, which could be a legitimate off-bank weapon. But there are also locks – is it worth making this switch at the cost of one or two choices at the top, for example? This is a team that no longer lacks depth of shooting.
Even without considering the value of choice, there is also the question of whether the expenditure of resources makes sense for this version of Sixers. He’s a sniper that you can trust more than many of the guys on the squad, but the Philadelphia reserve bench can be very small in a hurry if they make a move in that direction. Rivers has already regretted having to play against Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons for more minutes than he would have liked due to Scott’s injury, an effect that would be long-lasting if Scott were eliminated in a deal and no subsequent moves were made.
The Pelicans, according to a note by beat writer Will Guillory in the report of the The Athletic, they’re probably trying to get another first-round choice for their problems here. That sort of choice would probably be better used elsewhere for Philadelphia, whether to write a cheap contributor or sweeten a package for a brighter target, rather than negotiating it for Redick, especially when one of the would-be suitors (Brooklyn) doesn’t have a realistic way to acquire Redick, unless it is eventually purchased.
Is Redick more reliable in a big moment than, say, Furkan Korkmaz? Absolutely. But, at this stage in Redick’s career, this is the type of player he is competing against for a role, and this is the type of value you should consider before entering into negotiations.
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