"What a loser, that's not winning basketball" - JJ Redick revisits hysterical trash-talking incident with young Devin Booker

JJ Redick told a great Devin Booker story on "The Old Man and the Three" podcast. Redick recalled playing against a young Booker when the Phoenix Suns were not a very good team and he was with the Philadelphia 76ers. Redick's story also involved TJ McConnell, who is now with the Indiana Pacers.

Redick told the story to Cam Johnson, a guest on the podcast. He explained how McConnell was terrified of taking wide-open 3-point shots and the Sixers were giving him a tough time for passing it up.

The game was in Phoenix, and Booker took a shot at Redick for shooting an airball and blaming McConnell for passing it to him at the last second:

"We're in Phoenix and with Ben (Simmons), we had that movement offense," Redick said. "Everybody's touching the ball. We work it side-to-side. End of the shot clock, they swing it to TJ in the corner, takes about three seconds to decide whether or not to shoot it.

"Gets down in his squatted position, and, then, at the last second, swings me the ball with like 1.7 (seconds), and I throw up some bullsh*t that doesn't hit the rim. TJ was like my little brother. I was joking, and I got on him about throwing me the grenade. Devin Booker said to TJ, he goes, 'JJ, what a loser, that's not winning basketball.'"

JJ Redick played two seasons in Philadelphia, from 2017 to 2019, when the Phoenix Suns were not a great team. However, Devin Booker was not afraid to talk trash to a veteran like Redick and showed that he had the desire to be a great player.

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JJ Redick knew Devin Booker had a killer mentality

Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns

JJ Redick had former Phoenix Suns forward Cameron Johnson as a guest on his podcast a month ago.

They discussed Johnson's time in Phoenix, where Devin Booker was the team's best player. Redick then shared when he knew that Booker was a different star and had the killer mentality.

It happened during Redick's first season in Philly and Booker was dropping a lot of buckets on them. He tried to guard Booker, who was in his element and used every trick on his bag to score easy points:

"He picks up the ball and he does that Book thing where he does the Kobe shot-fake two or three times and then just launches a three over me, off balance," Redick said.

"Well defended, well contested, and it goes in. And yeah ... I look at him, and I see in his eyes he's a f*cking killer. It's not rocket science."

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