John Miller l Associated Press
The Cleveland Cavaliers recently signed Richard Jefferson in hopes of adding depth to their bench and to provide minutes relief for LeBron James. Jefferson is 35 years of age and is entering his 15th season in the NBA. However, his road to the Cavaliers was not an easy one as he has played for six different NBA teams all over the map but his journey began in college at the University of Arizona.
8. Arizona Wildcats 1998-2001
While there are many players who jumped to the NBA straight from high school, Jefferson attended the University of Arizona from 1998-2001 before he took his talents to the NBA. He played 84 career games for the Wildcats and averaged a respectable 11.2 points per game during that span. He finished his career with the Wildcats by leading them to the 2001 National Championship game where they ultimately lost to Duke by the final score of 82-72.
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7. New Jersey Nets 2001-2008
Jefferson was selected 13th overall in the 2001 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. On draft night, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets, now the Brooklyn Nets, where he spent the first seven years of his career. Jefferson was a vital piece to the Nets when they won the Eastern Conference championship in back-to-back seasons from 2002 to 2003.
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6. Milwaukee Bucks 2008-2009
Despite Jefferson’s desire to play for the Nets for his entire career, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2008 offseason. He played the 2008-2009 season with the Bucks and averaged around 20 points per game in his 81 starts. His stint with the Bucks did not last long as he was traded the following offseason.
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5. San Antonio Spurs 2009-2012
Jefferson was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2009 offseason. He played two and a half seasons for the Spurs and appeared in 203 games. He averaged around 11 points per game during his stint with the Spurs. In addition, he started in a total of 16 playoff games for the Spurs in 2010 and 2011 combined. Luckily for Jefferson, he did not have to face utter defeat of losing in the NBA Finals again because the Spurs traded him during midseason in 2012 before they lost in the Finals the following year.
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Thomas Campbell l USA TODAY Sports
4. Golden State Warriors 2012-2013
Due to the fact that the Spurs traded him midseason, Jefferson appeared in 22 games for the Warriors at the end of the lockout shortened 2011-2012 season and averaged nine points per game. He only played 56 games for Golden State in the following season and did not see many minutes. Additionally, Jefferson played in seven playoff games for the Warriors that season and comparative to the regular season, he did not see many minutes on the floor, therefore his impact was very minimal.
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3. Utah Jazz 2013-2014
Jefferson’s long NBA journey continued as he was traded to the Utah Jazz following the 2012-2013 season. Jefferson played in all 82 games for only the fourth time in his career and started in 78 of those games. He averaged 10 points per game for a team that finished 25-57.
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2. Dallas Mavericks 2014-2015
At this stage of his career, one would think that after playing for a team that finished 25-57, Jefferson would just call it a career and retire. Instead, he signed a deal with the Dallas Mavericks in hopes of helping them win another championship. He averaged 5.8 points per game in his 74 games with the Mavericks. They finished the season with a 50-32 record, which was good enough for the seventh seed in the Western Conference. However, the Mavericks were bounced from the first round by the Houston Rockets in five games, while Jefferson had no impact in the series.
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Tony Dejak l Associated Press
1. Cleveland Cavaliers 2015-2016
After fourteen seasons and six different teams along his career, Jefferson has landed at his seventh destination, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jefferson still has a fair amount of of mileage on him and hopefully he can provide good minutes for the Cavaliers off the bench despite his age. If we are lucky, maybe we’ll even get to see a play or two from him like this again.