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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.
Richard Jefferson: Players can get coaches fired in the NBA. If you allow that humility as the best player, it forces everyone else to fall in line. Pop knew. Pop would cuss Tim Duncan out first and then go down the line. Tim would just be like: “You’re right.” So what was I or anyone else going to say? His leadership style was that he allowed himself to be coached the hardest. That will always impress me. Tim received that day in and day out because he wanted greatness for himself and he wanted greatness for his teammates. That’s true selflessness.
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Richard Jefferson: I will not disrespect Draymond Green and all of his accomplishments, but I'm sure he's not gonna disrespect Kenyon Martin and his ability. He was a one-time All-Star, but think about it. He has no all-defensive team. I don't believe it, but he helmed the number one defense. Our two NBA Finals years, he helmed the number one defense. He was the center. He was the two. He was guarding every position. He was that dude.
Richard Jefferson: So what I’m expressing is that — and this is not to say that, Draymond, you wouldn’t talk how you talk, because that’s who you are — but if you had talked like that to Kenyon in '04, when he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated with his chest out saying 'Badass Yellow Boy' and the NBA told him he had to stop showing that tattoo when he dunked on people — y’all would’ve fought 100%. I saw him. Y’all would’ve fought 100%.
Jorge Sierra: CJ McCollum passed Tobias Harris, Richard Hamilton and Larry Nance in scoring for No. 135 all-time. Kawhi Leonard moved ahead of Richard Jefferson for No. 161. McCollum entered the NBA two years after Kawhi.
As a father with two boys, both of whom will be entering their teenage years within the next five years, Jefferson revealed why he'll be hanging up his microphone and headsets by 2030, he said, per ESPN's Road Trippin. “That is why I am retiring from broadcasting at 50. That is why, listen everybody, I will be done with all of this at 50,” Jefferson said. “My boys will be 13 and 15. I would’ve done this for 10 years. So I have five more years. I’m 45. So announcing my five year retirement right now for this specific reason. Because I am so obsessed with my two boys. So at that age, I want to be able to be there for all their high school games and all that stuff. “I’m not missing Christmases. I’m not doing that stuff anymore. So I’m formally announcing my retirement at the age of 50.”
One of the most outspoken members of that Thunder team in recent years has been Kendrick Perkins who was little more than a role player on those OKC teams. During a recent appearance on ‘Road Trippin,’ with Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, Kendrick Perkins recalled a time from those Thunder teams when Scott Brooks called out both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for being too selfish on the court. “We’re in New York, we’re playing the Brooklyn Nets. I was in Oklahoma City and we lost. KD and Russ, we had 92 shot attempts as a team. KD and Russ took 80 of them,” Perkins said. “We walked up in the practice gym afterwards and he [Scott Brooks] told Thabo [Sefolosha], we’re all huddled up at half court. Scott Brooks gave the ball to Thabo and he said, ‘Here Thabo, shoot the ball two times.’ Thabo took two shots.”
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Richard Jefferson: Victor Wembanyama, obviously he's dominating, but he doesn't have a blueprint, right? There is no blueprint for him. It's like you had, like power forwards, you had certain players that's kind of like, even LeBron, you had a Magic Johnson blueprint, you had a Scottie Pippen blueprint, like Kobe Bryant has a Michael Jordan blueprint. There's certain blueprints of like, hey, this is who I am. This is how other players like me have dominated the game with this skill set. He's at such a level that like there's never been a player like him. So, we know he can dominate the game, but how does he figure out a way to dominate the game in such a consistent level that it's unstoppable? And he has that ability. He just they just haven't figured it out. And it might take them a little bit longer because there is no blueprint.
Kendrick Perkins: I go on set on ESPN Bet and talk about f*cking gambling. ‘I’m taking the Lakers tonight with that six and a half’. (…) When it comes down to the NBA, NFL, all sports, it's like, how do you find that balance? Because sports betting is real. It's grandmothers. It's grandfathers out there. Q. Uncle, cousin, sisters, dogs. Everyone's gambling too. Perkins: Real talk. Everyone is into sports betting. That's why you see so many players getting death threats, right? Like in their inboxes or because people were mad because they didn't hit their prop bets and things like that, or because they smoked the layup. Right now, one of the hottest topics in the world, right, is certain states getting the laws approved for gambling, right? That's why you see so many sports books that are being opened like everywhere, like this casino is announcing their partnership with X, Y, and Z, and it's getting opened right, Richard Jefferson: The Mavericks sold to a casino group. Perkins: They did. So what I'm saying is it's hard. I'm talking about gamblers because it's in your face. It's going to be in your face, and it's real. If you don't clean it up, it is an addiction. It's going to be in your face. Everywhere you turn is going to be a place for gambling.
Richard Jefferson: “What if the setup was like an appearance fee type thing? So, was that his involvement? Was he actually part of the operation? We don’t know any of those things. That’s why it’s ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ right? That’s why I will respect Chauncey. I will respect everybody until all of the facts come out — because if you’re invited to go play in a poker game, and someone’s going to pay you $100K or whatever just as an appearance fee, you might not know who’s running things behind the scenes. He might not know any of that information — maybe he did. That’s why it’s hard to speak on it.