Redick makes insinuation about investigation
Veteran guard seems to hint that Pelicans’ Griffin ratted out Heat over alleged tampering
As he waits to sort out his own free agency, veteran guard JJ Redick has taken to sleuthing when it comes to the NBA’s ongoing tampering investigation into the free-agency approaches of the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.
As others previously have, Redick, during the latest episode of his Old Man and The Three podcast, appears to insinuate that the tipping-off point to the investigation could have come from New Orleans Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin.
While the NBA does not disclose the sources of such complaints, or, for that matter, even formally acknowledge such investigations, Redick during his podcast appeared to trace the elements to a specific source.
“It’s a little bit for show, probably, I guess. I don’t know,” he said of the NBA undertaking such examinations of teams moving ahead of the NBA’s scheduled start of free agency, in what has been acknowledged for years as a common practice. “I think you probably have to ask the guy who’s asking for the investigation. I mean some teams cleared a ton of cap space to get Kyle [Lowry], and it didn’t happen. And then Lonzo [Ball] leaving. So you’d have to ask that guy, that guy complaining.”
Laughter followed from Redick and his co-host.
Of the NBA’s 30 teams, only one was impacted by both of the moves the NBA is investigating. The Pelicans initially cleared out significant salary-cap space to make a free
agency run at Lowry, who, instead, minutes after the 6 p.m. Aug. 2 start of NBA free agency agreed to a signand-trade transaction to go from the Toronto Raptors to the Heat.
Even before that agreement, Ball worked out an agreement to leave the Pelicans for the Bulls as part of a sign-and-trade transaction.
Redick last season was traded by the Pelicans to the Dallas Mavericks in March. At the time, Redick said on his podcast that the Pelicans reneged on a vow to deal him closer to his Brooklyn home.
“I don’t think you’re going to get honesty from that front office, objectively speaking,” Redick said of the Pelicans in the immediate wake of his trade. “That’s not an opinion. I just don’t think you’re going to get that.”
Redick said of that situation, Griffin told him, “Come down for a month, if you still want to be traded, I give you my word, I’ll get you to a situation that you like.”
“Obviously,” Redick said, “he did not honor his word.”
At stake for the Heat in the NBA’s investigation is the possible loss of drafts picks, a substantial fine or even the suspension of front-office personnel. Numerous league experts say they do not expect the NBA to “unwind” the Lowry or Ball signings, which would stand as unprecedented in such “gun-jumping” situations.
Redick is close to several players on the Heat, including Jimmy Butler and Duncan Robinson, for whom he helped establish a podcast. He also said he plans to have Lowry, 35, on soon as a podcast guest.
“Miami goes out and gets a vet,” Redick said of the Lowry acquisition. “That was a little bit of a trend in free agency, I think. Teams realize that the guys that just understand the game and know how to win, they get it done. They get it done in the playoffs. So I think that was a little bit of a trend.
“Kyle in Miami, I love. I think he fits that culture. He fits the vibe of their team. Adding P.J. Tucker, they’re going to be really, really good defensively. Jimmy’s obviously great defensively and then Bam [Adebayo] is probably one of, if not the most, versatile big-man defenders in the NBA. So I love that team. I think they’re going to have a nice bounce back after what was a down year.”
As for his own free agency, Redick, 37, said he is biding his time.
“I feel no rush to make any sort of decision on next season,” he said on his podcast. “And I felt that way when the season ended, and I feel that way now. My focus right now is just hanging with my family and enjoying the offseason. And we’ll make a decision on next season — what team, what city, etcetera — probably sometime in the next two or three months.”
The Heat currently lack the wherewithal below the luxury tax to add an additional player.
End game
The Heat have been scheduled for a 3 p.m. Eastern game on Tuesday (ESPNU) against a similar squad of young players from the Dallas Mavericks to close out their schedule at the NBA Las Vegas Summer League. The Heat are 4-2 in summer play.