As of last month, Richard Jefferson is an NBA champion, and he’s since inked a two-year deal to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers a while longer.
But Jefferson could have been a champion over a decade ago when he, Jason Kidd, and Kenyon Martin, helped lead the New Jersey Nets to back-to-back Eastern Conference titles in 2002 and 2003. Talking with SLAM Magazine, Jefferson reminisced on those days with several memories, including a full-on fist fight with Kenyon Martin during his rookie season:
“My rookie year, we had gone on a west coast road trip,” RJ says. “We had gotten off to a really, really good start that year. We had lost four in a row on that west coast road trip.
“Towards the end of the game, me and Bonzi Wells are kinda getting into it. Kenyon’s at the bottom of the free throw line and the referee tells Kenyon, ‘Tell your rookie to be quiet because I don’t wanna have to give him a technical this late into the game.’ Kenyon tells me, ‘Hey Richard, be quiet.’ Bonzi Wells goes, ‘Yeah! Listen to Kenyon and shut up.’ I just lose it. I’m like, ‘F, Bonzi! And F, you too, Kenyon!’
“I go and sit down, I’m mad, pissed off. I’m sitting down and Kenyon comes in the locker room pissed off. I stand up and he pushes me down in my seat. We have a full-on fistfight. The only thing that saved me is Aaron Williams, and you remember how big he was, grabbed him from the back to try and calm him down. My last swing hits Aaron Williams in his lip and busts his lip open. At that point in time, I realize what is going on. I have no problem fighting Kenyon. Aaron? I don’t want any piece of,” RJ says still with a quiver in his voice.
“Even that fistfight right there, we both understood how much we wanted to win and that we were willing to fight anybody, including each other, to get that done.”
Jefferson’s fierce competitiveness was on early display in his seven seasons spent with the Nets. Statistically, they were some of the best seasons of his career. He played on special teams in 2002 and 2003, and this story goes deeper into just how fired up they were about competing and winning at that time. Jefferson’s passion and persistence paid off, it brought him an NBA title in his 17th season.
