“Everybody Hated Me”: Crumbling Under Pressure, Ex-Clippers Star’s 1 Decision Once Drove Him Towards NBA Exit

Coming out of high school, JJ Redick was a highly-ranked recruit. He had made a name for himself with his McDonald’s All-American selections. But Redick was overwhelmed when he got to college. To face all the noise that came his way, he made himself into a villain. But little did he know that this would eventually end up causing him more trouble.

In a recent interview, Redick opened up about his time playing for Duke University and how everything changed because people believed in him and supported him.

JJ Redick almost quit basketball because of the pressure

JJ Redick was recently on The Starting Five show. During his conversation with Jadakiss, Redick talked about his time playing at Duke and how playing under Mike Krzyzewski has helped his career. During this, Redick revealed what it was like in his early days with the team.

Till then, he had only played against high school players, and the sudden shift was huge for the young guard. There was a lot of pressure on Redick to perform well, and he did not handle it well at first. Redick was still new to everything. He did not know the intensity of the practice or the game. He did not fully understand what it meant to be a blue devil.

But what pushed things over the edge for JJ Redick was when he played the road games. He said, “I really struggled when once started playing road games my freshman year, and everybody f***ing hated me. I was this reviled person, and I made this brash persona on the court just to combat that.“

So in order to face the challenges, he decided to bring about a different persona on the court that he thought could help him. He played with an edge and was intense, but this did not work as he anticipated.

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Reddick said, “Then that made it worse. Then, by the end of my sophomore year, the pressure was getting to me to the point I met with my older sisters and (said) I want to quit.” But Redick is happy that his sisters talked him out of it. He had one of the best careers in college basketball history.

Playing for Duke helped Redick’s career

JJ Redick has had a lot of success as a player in the NBA. But he owes a lot of it to his time playing under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. When he was struggling in his early days and wanted to quit, Redick was once brought to coach K’s office, where he convinced Redick to not quit basketball.

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Redick revealed that he got a lot of love, second chances, and everything else he needed to become the best version of himself from Duke. This was important as his time here helped him develop his confidence, which stayed with him forever.

What do you think of Redick’s pressures of playing at Duke as a top recruit? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!