Richard Jefferson Officially Hangs It Up After 17 Seasons
I wouldn’t say Richard Jefferson had a HOF career or anything like that, but I’m not sure people understand just how awesome this dude was in the early 2000s. I’m sure there are some that probably only recognize this name as a guy who spent the second half of his career in a reserve roll on contending teams and a guy that won a ring with LeBron back in 2016. When you look back at RJ’s career, it’s really a story of two halfs. The first half, from 2001-02 to 2008-09 he was an extremely athletic and dynamic SF. Those Nets teams he was on with Kidd, Kenyon Martin, Kerry Kittles, etc were pretty awesome, and what was impressive was that Jefferson essentially never missed a game over the course of his seven seasons in NJ where he averaged 17/5/3 on 47/34% splits. Known best for his loud dunks, Jefferson was an athletic freak that was a main piece for those Nets teams that had a pretty good run. Never won a title, but basically ran the East in the early 2000s.
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From there once he turned 29 he bounced around from MIL to SAS, ultimately staying in SA for three years where he started every game, and then was traded to the Warriors (pre-dynasty) for Stephen Jackson. Things didn’t really work out there, he only started 4 games as a Warrior, and at 32 after playing 56 games and averaging just 3.1 points a night, I’m not sure many would have faulted him if he hung it up. Instead, he found his way to UTA where all the sudden he was a starter again at age 33 and put up 10.1 points a night. Not dead after all! That season probably bought him a few more years in the league, ultimately ending up in CLE with LeBron and the rest is history. Personally I’m happy he finally got a ring, and in my opinion he earned it too. As a 35 year old he played 18 minutes a night during that playoff run, so it’s not as if he never played and LeBron just handed him his ring. He was solid in both Games 3 & 5 to help the Cavs complete the comeback so he for sure earned it.
Honestly it’s a little crazy that a player that relied so much on his athleticism early in his career was able to hang around for this long, and it’s almost impossible to not like RJ as a player if you watched him play. And this is coming from someone who hates praising Arizona Wildcats (Go Devils). This isn’t a situation where DEN is going to be lost without him or anything like that, but definitely take some time to YouTube some of his best moments, because the dude could play