Over Richard Jefferson’s career, he has always come so close to winning a championship, but he had never won one before last night. He used to be a major key on the New Jersey Nets, and he came close to winning multiple times. Now as a role player, he has achieved basketball greatness and won. He also decided he was going to go out on top, and he announced his retirement after the game.
During his postgame press conference, Jefferson credited LeBron James with his career. From Samer Kalaf of Deadspin:
I owe my entire basketball career to him.
I’ll give you a little walk down right now. I lost the national championship game to Duke, then I lost two straight NBA Finals, then my third year we lost to Detroit after being up 3-2 and they won the championship, then I lost to Miami and they won the championship, then to top it off I went to the Olympics and we were the worst team of all time. My whole career has been so, so close.
Then I had a stretch of six to seven years where you become a little bit of a journeyman. To be able to get on a team and walk in with a guy that says he’s going to be able to carry you and bring me here, I owe everything, every shot, every play, everything I’ve ever done to that man.
You have to feel good for a guy like Jefferson. After a long career where he came so close on multiple occasions, he finally has his championship. He has worked long and hard for this moment, and he is right to go out on top and retire after this season. He will be going out as a champion, and how else would any player want to leave the game? Congrats, Richard Jefferson.
