JJ Redick didn’t want—as he puts it—a “term paper” hanging over his head.
In the summer of 2015 Redick, the No. 11 pick from the 2006 NBA Draft and one of the NBA’s premier sharpshooters, was approached by then-Yahoo reporter Adrian Wojnarowski about possibly writing for his new NBA site “The Vertical.” Redick, in the middle of his memorable tenure with the Clippers, didn’t think he would have time to write first-person essays while also balancing his playing career and personal life. In October of that year, Wojnarowski approached him again, this time with the idea of hosting a podcast.
“I didn’t know anything about the podcast industry,” Redick told SI over the phone earlier this month. “My wife recommended Serial, which was in the middle of season one at the time. I was like, ‘This doesn’t seem like something I could do.’”
