Duke basketball: JJ Redick’s remarkable tie with LeBron James

Impressively, one Duke basketball great is now in a tie with an NBA legend.

Granted, JJ Redick is 189 days older than LeBron James and was one grade ahead of him as a teen. That said, the all-time Duke basketball scorer, who is now with the New Orleans Pelicans and will be looking in August to extend his personal playoff streak to all 14 of his NBA seasons, stayed four years in college, landing in the league three years after James did so out of high school in 2003.

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Plus, James has played 48,329 minutes in his career. Compare that to the 23,085 of Redick. Sure enough, that’s less than half.

True, the newly turned 36-year-old doesn’t belong in the same sentence, paragraph, page, or maybe even book as the 35-year-old surefire Hall of Famer when it comes to professional achievements. In fact, as James was quickly becoming the face of the game more than a decade ago, Redick was largely a disappointment in his first five years out of Duke and didn’t surpass 16 points per game for a season until after turning 30.

Nevertheless, Redick now has a legitimate shot at ending his career ahead of James in one significant statistical category: career 3-pointers. After all, they are currently in an exact tie.

As the official Duke Basketball Twitter account proudly advertised on Monday, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound shooting guard from Roanoke, Va., who once held the NCAA record with his 457 college 3-pointers, sits alongside the 6-foot-9, 250-pound positionless power out of Akron, Ohio, at No. 4 overall on the active list with 1,860 made baskets from deep apiece.

Even though 3-point shooting isn’t exactly the King’s specialty, considering he is now No. 3 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 34,087 points, that’s still some pretty good company for the former Blue Devil to be in, to say the least. And ahead of Redick and James are James Harden (age 30), Kyle Korver (39), and Steph Curry (32) with 2,296, 2,437, and 2,495 trifectas, respectively.

What’s the chance the Duke basketball legend bests James in career threes?

Redick, whose 45.3 percentage from 3-point land this season for the 28-36 Pelicans is on track to be the second-highest clip of his career, has drained 41.6 percent of his 4,474 attempts from beyond the arc as a pro.

Meanwhile, James is shooting 34.9 percent from downtown this season for the 49-14 Lakers, on par with his 34.4 percent (5,409 attempts) since becoming the No. 1 overall pick at the 2003 NBA Draft.

Neither veteran is showing much sign of slowing down, as Redick is averaging 14.9 points in 26.4 minutes per game this season while James is averaging 25.7 in 34.9.

So as to whether Redick or James finishes with more 3-pointers as an NBA player, well, at the moment, all things considered, that feels like the exact definition of a toss-up question.

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