JJ Redick spent four seasons with a Los Angeles Clippers team that once looked like it was poised to contend for NBA championships, but to say things never worked out would be an understatement. According to the veteran sharpshooter, immaturity was one of the biggest reasons for that.
Redick was a guest on the “Pardon My Take” podcast recently, and he was asked about the well-documented issues the Clippers had during his time there. He indicated there was some adolescent-style drama going on behind the scenes, though he had a different way of describing it.
“It was weird because separately everybody was really cool with each other, off the court everybody sort of got along. And then, there was just so much pettiness, it was just pettiness,” Redick said, as transcribed by Dane Carbaugh of NBC Sports. “It’s weird to think what we had the potential to accomplish and what ultimately derailed that was pettiness. Like, Donald Trump-level pettiness.”
Redick also said players were guilty of a lot of “passive aggressive bulls—,” and he that he wasn’t an exception.
On paper, the Clippers were loaded with talent at one point. You almost need a “Big Three” to compete in today’s NBA, and they had that in Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Mix in role players like Redick and Jamal Crawford, and L.A. should have had a lot more success than never advancing beyond the second round of the playoffs. But judging by how Redick remembers things, Griffin’s ex may not have been that off with the way she described the big man’s relationship with his former teammates.
