- Report: Chances of Cavs re-signing Rajon Rondo were always ‘slim’ due to 3 key factors
- Report: Many throughout Cavs organization are big fans of 2022 NBA draft class
- Damon Jones’ grateful response to LeBron James naming him one of the best shooters he’s ever played with
- Report: Rajon Rondo allegedly threatened to kill his former partner and pulled a gun on her
- Report: J.B. Bickerstaff and Koby Altman have discussed a potential change to the Cavs coaching staff
- Cavs insider indicates Rich Paul is expected to pursue extension in $180M range for Darius Garland
- Dan Gilbert’s confident statement regarding Koby Altman after he misses out on Executive of the Year
- Report: Kyrie Irving wanted LeBron James-like control with Brooklyn Nets
- Here’s how close Cavs exec Koby Altman came to winning Executive of the Year honors
- Darius Garland explains why it hurt so much that the Cavs didn’t make the playoffs this season
Why Richard Jefferson Was Nearly Traded Immediately After Cavs Won Title in 2016
- Updated: October 14, 2017
On Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers shipped Richard Jefferson, Kay Felder, two future second-round draft picks and cash considerations to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to forward Dimitrios Agravanis and guard Sergey Gladyr. While Jefferson’s career with the Cavs has come to an end, it almost ended much earlier.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Jefferson was almost traded away during the 2016 NBA offseason when the forward nonchalantly revealed the Cavs’ championship rings on social media before the team was ready to show them off.
“The fact that Jefferson made it as long as he did with Cleveland was improbable, anyway. First, he retired after that Game 7 win against the Warriors and had to be persuaded to come back,” McMenamin wrote. “Then he was nearly traded the summer after the championship because he revealed what the Cavs’ rings looked like on his Snapchat account before the team was ready to release them to the public. Then-GM David Griffin was so ticked that he was ready to ship him out of town, sources told ESPN, before eventually calming down and accepting Jefferson’s apology.”
Considering the rumors leading up to Saturday’s trade and Jefferson’s ability to joke about it on his podcast, it seemed like R.J. had already come to terms with his career in Cleveland coming to an end. Jefferson was a fan favorite and will certainly be missed this season, but at least his career with the Cavs didn’t end a year early because of a silly social media faux pas.
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