J.J. Redick: Nets offered me two-year deal at “respectful number”

In a podcast with Hoopshype’s Alex Kennedy, J.J. Redick says that the Nets did offer him a deal but that other “factors” —apparently the Nets’ decision to trade for D’Angelo Russell— made him realize it wasn’t going to work out.

"I realized about five days before free agency that the Brooklyn thing wasn't going to work out,” Redick told Kennedy, suggesting he decided against the Nets on June 25. “There was just a few factors in there. Listen, they offered me a contract. It was a two-year deal at a respectful number.

“There were a few factors in there why that wasn't the right choice this summer. I'm not saying it wouldn't be the right choice in the future but it just wasn't the right choice this summer. “

It’s the first report that the Nets actually made Redick, now 33 years old, an offer and apparently a big one. He did not indicate what constitutes a “respectful number,” but there were reports that it would take a deal north of $12 million a year to sign him.

In a discussion of his free agency on his podcast last month, J.J. Redick said he was interested in the Nets, but once they made the trade for Russell, he realized there would be fewer minutes available and so he turned elsewhere. In the end, the shooting specialist signed a one-year $23 million deal with the 76ers.

The Nets made the deal for Russell on June 20, and it became official on Draft Night two days later. Although free agency is supposed to start on July 1, preliminary negotiations often take place in the weeks before. If the Nets had signed Redick to an eight-figure deal, it would been difficult if not impossible to make a deal for another, younger sharpshooter, Allen Crabbe.

In both the Hoopshype podcast and his own, as well as a video about his free agency, Redick said his wife, Chelsea, had a clear preference for Brooklyn where he owns a $4 million condo in DUMBO.

“The one team for Chelsea was the Nets. I was certainly interested in the Nets. I love what they’re building there… But once they were kind of off the table, it created a little bit of chaos,” Redick said on his podcast.

In a video on “The Uninterrupted,” Redick gives his wife a choice of three places where she wanted to live. Her response, “1) Brooklyn; 2) Brooklyn; 3) Brooklyn.”

Redick did seem to leave the door open for the Nets. Since his deal with Philly is for one year, they will not control his Bird Rights next summer. The Nets interest in Redick extended beyond the court. They saw him as a veteran presence, a character pick-up.