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Arizona legend Richard Jefferson begins season on ESPN top NBA announcing team

Arizona basketball legend Richard Jefferson worked the opening regular season game for ESPN on their top announcing team with Mike Breen and Doris Burke on Wednesday night.

By Alan Rubenstein

May 5, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones (left) and ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson prior to the game against the Denver Nuggets in game three of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
May 5, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones (left) and ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson prior to the game against the Denver Nuggets in game three of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Richard Jefferson has the first opportunity to earn the third seat on the ESPN top NBA announcing team. Jefferson is working the first game of the regular season for ESPN on the top announcing team with longtime play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and leading analyst Doris Burke on Wednesday calling Milwaukee at Philadelphia.

Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported on Wednesday that Jefferson will join Breen and Burke as a rotating third announcer. Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing suggests Jefferson may be the frontrunner to secure a permanent role with the duo.

Yoder expects ESPN to shuffle the third announcer next to Breen and Burke until at least Christmas Day. If Jefferson works on the top ESPN team on Christmas Day Yoder projects him to have the inside track to being the third announcer. If the third announcer is someone else, Yoder thinks the third announcer might not be decided until close to June.

The ESPN bio for Jefferson states he started working for the mothership in 2019 as an NBA analyst. Jefferson also appears on "NBA Today, NBA Countdown, First Take, Get Up, SportsCenter and Hoop Streams" per his official bio. Jefferson also hosts his own podcast "Road Trippin'."

"It’s telling that Richard Jefferson gets the first chance to shine for ESPN’s first night of coverage...If it’s Jefferson again, then he should have the inside track. "

- Matt Yoder Awful Announcing

Jefferson averaged 11.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game from 1998 through 2001 with Arizona. In three seasons with Jefferson on the roster, Arizona finished 77-22. Jefferson started 77 of the 84 games he played with the Wildcats. Jefferson missed 13 games with a stress fracture in his right foot as a sophomore in 1999-2000.

Arizona was a four-seed with Jefferson as a freshman, a one-seed during his sophomore season and a two-seed during his junior season. The Wildcats advanced to the 2001 NCAA Championship game where they lost to Duke. Arizona nearly duplicated the 1997 run beating number one seeds Illinois and Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.

Jefferson left Arizona after his junior year and was the 13th pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets. Houston traded Jefferson to the New Jersey Nets on Draft Night. Jefferson played in two finals with the Nets and a pair with the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning a title in 2015 aside LeBron James.

Jefferson retired following the 2018 season and became an analyst for ESPN in 2019. Before Arizona, Jefferson was the rare star for the Wildcats who played in high school in-state. Channing Frye who won an NBA title with Jefferson in Cleveland is also from Arizona and frequently appears on the Road Trippin' podcast.

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