Former NBA player and ESPN talent Richard Jefferson is taking his talents back to the hardwood, but this time he’s wearing zebra stripes instead of a jersey.
Jefferson, who played 17 years in the NBA, will officiate the second quarter of Monday’s Summer League contest between the Portland Trail Blazers and New York Knicks, the league announced.
The NBA said that Jefferson has been experiencing “how NBA referees prepare for games and execute that knowledge on the court.” He will join the ESPN broadcast at halftime to discuss the experience, too.
Jefferson explained his reasoning for the decision on Twitter, where he laid out two points: “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.”
After his 17 years in the NBA, in which he won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, Jefferson retired from the league in 2018. He played for eight different teams during his career before joining ESPN as an analyst.
The Blazers notched their first victory of Summer League on Saturday. They’re without No. 7 overall pick Shaedon Sharpe, though, who is out the remainder of the tournament with a shoulder injury.
Tipoff for the Blazers is scheduled for 8 p.m. Pacific on ESPN2. All games will be played at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of UNLV. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting NBAEvents.com.
– Aron Yohannes
