Richard Jefferson was called for over 2,600 fouls in his career in 17 NBA seasons, now he’s officiating games after training throughout the summer.
Jefferson refereed during the second-quarter of the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers NBA summer league game. He credits his willingness to officiate is due to his “tremendous amount of respect” for referees.
“I didn’t want to do this. The NBA asked would I be interested. I have such a tremendous amount of respect for the referees, how important they are to the game and I’ve always treated every single one of them as such. I just respect them because I know their importance to our game and to the integrity to our game.”
He continued, “It’s been amazing because I love the game of basketball. I like talking about the game of basketball so now I get an opportunity to learn a whole new piece of the game. That’s like my dream, for a basketball junkie, to sit in there and see how the referees think, how they talk, how they act, how they work together as a team. That type of stuff to me is so beneficial.”
.@Rjeff24 changed his first-ever call as an NBA official 😅 pic.twitter.com/F9ffWzUs79
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 12, 2022
Jefferson has been training with NBA officials throughout the offseason, learning the responsibilities of the three-team officiating crew.
Why do this?
1. Tremendous amount of knowledge about our game that I’ve learned sitting in classes with the best refs in the world
2.I do this because not many people would dare put themselves in this position. The more info I have the more informed I am as a broadcaster 🫡— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) July 11, 2022
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