Richard Jefferson has made a great transition from the court to television in the last few years. Jefferson spent 17 seasons as a player in the NBA, during which he won a title with the Cavaliers in 2016, and he would hang up his boots two years later.
He then proceeded to head to the sidelines as a commentator for Nets games and also appears as an analyst on ESPN. While those are already plenty of areas to venture into, Jefferson wasn’t done yet as he took on his toughest role post-retirement by becoming a referee for the 2nd quarter of the Summer League game between the Knicks and Blazers.
Jefferson had attended daily officiating meetings in Las Vegas in the lead-up, and he stated that the knowledge he would gain from this would make him a better broadcaster. He seemed to have a lot of fun doing it, too, as he was mic’d up, and we got to hear some fun soundbites.
While Jefferson enjoyed his time as a referee, he definitely didn’t do a great job on his debut, as Senior Vice President of Referee Development and Training, Monty McCutchen, hilariously stated he wouldn’t get to officiate another quarter based on this display.
.@Rjeff24 says he wants to ref again in next year’s summer league 😂 pic.twitter.com/MkvZMTxm0j
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 12, 2022
Jefferson expressed his desire to return next year instead and joked that he’d go to class for it. He definitely realized why being a referee is an unenviable job as it is pretty difficult to get everything right. Everyone loves to clown on officials but try putting on those shoes, and you’ll realize how much harder it is than what it might seem like from a television screen.
Jefferson now heads back to doing what he does best, which is talking about the game. He recently expressed his frustration at young players skipping Summer League games as he felt that the teams coddle them too much. That is definitely the case, and while it is far from ideal, we are likely to see more of this as time goes on.
