Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates J.R. Smith and Richard Jefferson reunited Thursday, but not on the basketball court. The duo, who won an NBA Championship with the Cavs in 2016, appeared on the HBO Max series “Hacks.” In season 5, episode 5 of the Emmy-winning comedy, Smith and Jefferson play themselves, competing in a fictionalized celebrity edition of “The Amazing Race.”
In their only lines in the episode, Smith and Jefferson tell “Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan that they’re competing on behalf of the United Negro College Fund, which supports historically Black colleges and universities across the country. In real life, Smith is set to graduate this month from North Carolina A&T State University, an HBCU in Greensboro.
Richard Jefferson: Who is the guard that when you get the opportunity, is it Luka? Is it a Steph? Is it Cade? Who is it? Evan Mobley: Definitely Kevin Durant. I like the challenge of that. I mean cuz he's Kevin Durant.
Richard Jefferson: Who was your favorite person that you were excited to go against in the league? Like actually go at? Trey Johnson: Kevin Durant. Just playing against him. Watched him a lot growing up.
Advertisement
Richard Jefferson: Let's do shooters. JJ Redick, Luke Kennard, Grayson Allen. Start, bench, cut. Kon Knueppel: Start JJ, bench Grayson Allen, cut Luke. Jefferson: That's fair. That's I was really hoping for a different answer. We're gonna go to some different players. Start, bench, cut, all-around gamers: Paolo Banchero, Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram. Knueppel: Start Jayson Tatum, bench Paolo, and cut Brandon Ingram. Jefferson: It's funny that you're going to start the one guy that you're not going to play against this season. Knueppel: We don't play Brandon Ingram again. Played him four times already.
One of LeBron James’ teammates from the championship-winning 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers in Richard Jefferson recently shared that he thinks the future Hall of Famer’s career could span 25 seasons. He did clarify, though, that the four-time NBA champion would need to accept a new kind of role when speaking with SiriusXM NBA Radio’s David Shepard on March 17. “Yeah, 100% I think it’s a possibility. But now, it’s not just an acceptance of, ‘can he do it.’ Is he willing to take the role that would most likely be required for that? If you were like, ‘Bron, you can play until 25 years. But your last year, you’re going to average 15 points.’ Is that something that he’s willing to do? I don’t know. He set a standard for himself, we expect that standard for him. And so it’s more about what he’s willing to accept, and the role he’s willing to. And only he knows that,” Jefferson told Shepard on the air.
Richard Jefferson: So 6 a.m. there's 40 federal agents at your house. Was there a helicopter, a batter ram? Gilbert Arenas: No the batter ram. It took them too long to get up the stairs, so I figured they set it… Jefferson: Over a speaker, like ‘we have you surrounded’. Arenas: Surrounded. Come outside with your hands up. Jefferson: I'm fascinated by this. Arenas: I just thought they came and got me. Jefferson: 6:00 AM they say, "We have you surrounded. Come outside." Gilbert Arenas: I knew they didn't have me surrounded though cuz the house is kind of big. So, you know what I mean? Like, I know they didn't get in the backyard, but I understood what they were saying. Jefferson: So, after that, they said, "You have you surrounded." They told you to come outside. Did you know why you were getting arrested? Arenas: No. This wasn't like we're telling people that we brought guns to an arena. This was completely different. Like even when I'm running down the stairs after you guys seen me like I'm running. Hey, I still didn't know why I was arrested. I just be honest. I wasn't shocked. (Laughs) When I got out and I was looking online, I was like, "Oh my god, I thought it was the…’.
Richard Jefferson: What is a bigger in your ear moment? Is it Lance Stevenson blowing in LeBron's ear or LeBron whispering sweet nothings to you at the free throw line before you brick those free throws and lost the playoff game? LeBron tapped you and said, "If you miss this, you're going to lose." And you did. Gilbert Arenas: I mean, you should give credit to him. That's like psychic stuff.
NBA Courtside: Richard Jefferson talking about how to prevent teams from tanking in the NBA “There was a thing in soccer. It’s like once you are eliminated from the playoffs, you should actually be given points towards your percentage for the games you win. Does that make sense? So, if you’re eliminated from the playoffs and there’s 10 games left, if you go 0 for 10, you should have a lower percentage of getting a higher pick. If you go 6 and 4 in your last 10, that means you are trying to win. The wins give you closer percentage to a higher pick. So those 6 wins instead of you having a 30% chance, right? If you go 0 for 10, if you can win 6 of your last 10 after you been eliminated, you actually have a 35% chance. So they reward you for pushing all the way to the end” (Via @RoadTrippinShow )
Advertisement
Richard Jefferson: Give me your top two game winners and why. Robert Horry: Western Conference final against Sacramento Kings. Jefferson: Oh, that was a beautiful one. Horry: Just because it was done at home and the every athlete has an ego, so you want to hear the fans chant your name. And of course the second half of Game 5 in the 2005 Finals against Detroit.
Richard Jefferson will see his media presence continue to expand, as the NBA has a deal to distribute “The Richard Show” across NBA TV, the NBA app and league digital and social media platforms starting tomorrow. “The Richard Show” is a 10-minute interview posted to Jefferson’s YouTube page, and the second season is set to drop with Knicks G Jalen Brunson as the interviewee. The show, done under the banner of another Jefferson podcast, “Road Trippin’,” had around 5 million views across Instagram, TikTok, X and Threads for Season 1. CCG Social produces the effort.
Jefferson told SBJ that, while “The Richard Show” clips have been edited down to around 10 minutes, subjects typically sit for 30 or 35 minutes, so there is the ability to add length for a longer TV-type program. “I just feel very, very blessed to have created a show that they wanted to support,” Jefferson said.
Richard Jefferson on LeBron James: I’ve always said that he was one of the great camaraderie leaders I’ve been around. He can’t really go out in public so he did a lot of team dinners: “Hey, guys, we’ve got to the Monday Night Football game on at this steakhouse. Just come hang out.” He does that in almost every city. We would go to dinners and just sit there and talk about sports — football, basketball, who we thought was the greatest small forward of all time. He took the team and did yoga. He ingratiated himself with his teammates and that was a beautiful thing.