NBA Champion Richard Jefferson Reveals Powerful Personal Story While Criticizing the NBA’s Load Management Problem
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A load management problem exists in the NBA. Star players sit out games, depriving ticket-paying fans and consumers of their chance to see them play. Richard Jefferson, an ESPN analyst and former NBA champion, is well aware of the problem.
Just last week Ja Morant sat out for the Grizzlies’ contest against the Kings. This was the second night in a back-toback, with a matchup against the Warriors two days later. Denver’s Nikola Jokic sat out Wednesday’s game against the Bucks, which kept fans from seeing him square off against Giannis Antetokounmpo, the matchup every fan in the building paid to see.
A recent segment of ‘NBA Today,’ Jefferson spoke out about how the league has evolved since 2001, his rookie season. How teams and players are paying millions to stay healthy, yet even if they are healthy, they’re sitting out games.
Richardson shared an inspiring story about his childhood that helps to put things in a greater perspective.
“For Christmas, my parents got me a ticket to go watch the San Antonio Spurs because David Robinson was my favorite player,” Jefferson spoke on the pregame broadcast. “One ticket. My dad, who worked security and scrubbed floors and did all this stuff, he dropped me off at the game. He gave me $5 and I went in there by myself because my family couldn’t afford to come to the game.”
“It’s like every day that I stepped on the floor I remembered my father. I remember having one ticket, and all the families and people that were just like me. If David Robinson wouldn’t have played in that game like I get emotional thinking about it.”
Jefferson also said it perfectly, explaining that “players in this generation are doing more of what they are told instead of going out there and leaving it all on the floor.”
It’s a spot-on breakdown from Jefferson. He knows firsthand the changes that have taken place in the league over the past few decades.
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