JJ Redick has made no secret of his distaste toward the louder, more bombastic parts of sports media, but he knows his lane.
After Redick took on hot-take culture in sports media earlier this year on First Take, he is now clarifying and doing some damage control. In an appearance on the Flagrant podcast with Andrew Schultz and Akaash Singh, Redick explained that he doesn’t want to revolutionize sports media, but simply create content that is not out there right now.
“I don’t want to change anything, I want to fill a void,” Redick said. “Because there are always going to be people who want to be entertained in a certain way. Sports is an escape.”
Redick detailed how he understands the way people interact with sports and how modern sports media satisfies the average fan. Still, Redick believes there is a hunger among basketball fans for his more analytical, detailed approach.
“Fandom is a part of people’s identity. It’s an escape,” Redick added. “In some ways, sports media is that too. So I’m not trying to change anything, I’m trying to fill a void in what I see.”
With his Old Man & the Three podcast and the new Mind the Game podcast with LeBron James, it would appear Redick is right. As he said on First Take, he may not ever compete with network studio shows or hangout podcasts with his network, everyone can eat.
“Maybe there’s another way to add to the ancillary coverage of sports, and the way we talk about sports,” Redick said on Flagrant.
Later in the podcast, Redick reminded people what his true issue is with the bulk of sports content today.
“Sometimes, too much ‘sugar’ can become toxic,” he said.
That’s true of anything. But Redick is learning he can speak to diehard NBA fans online as directly as anyone. In 2024, the economics and scale of what qualifies as professional sports content have changed. On top of being a main NBA broadcaster at ESPN, Redick is taking advantage of an opportunity to balance out basketball talk as well.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.