Knicks Deny That They Offered Richard Jefferson a Contract After He Joked About It

Serious response to a non-serious comment.

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Image via Getty/Matteo Marchi

Richard Jefferson

After a 17-year playing career, Richard Jefferson is now the color commentator for the Brooklyn Nets. It appears to be a cushy gig, if also perhaps far less lucrative than playing in the league. That's relevant because, during Sunday's Nets-Knicks game,Jefferson stated that he knew it was time to call it quits when the only team that came around with a contract offer was the perpetual punching bag that plays home games at MSG. 

"I refused to play for the Knicks," Jefferson said. "Like Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, they don't really care. Me? I was the one person that said: 'Knicks? No, I'll retire.' That's why I retired. They were the one team that offered me a job."

"Knicks? No, I'll retire. That's why I retired, they were the one team that offered me a job."

Richard Jefferson said he knew his time in the league was up when the Knicks were the only team that wanted him. pic.twitter.com/OnH2sYTOUE

— ESPN (@espn) November 25, 2019

The whole comment was pretty obviously a joke, but not so "pretty obviously" that the Knicks didn't actually take time to respond to it instead of just rolling their eyes and ignoring. You can be the judge but, from here, their actual clarification makes the whole thing much funnier:

The New York Knicks say it is not true that the franchise offered Richard Jefferson a contract in either the summer of 2018 or 2019.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) November 25, 2019

For clarification purposes, it is not true that the New York Knicks offered Richard Jefferson a contract in either the summer of 2018 or 2019.

— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) November 25, 2019

Anyway that response beget more trolling:

2020 here we come #comeback 😂 https://t.co/xh8iU3ydM0

— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) November 25, 2019

I’m glad every team feels the need to clarify things 😂🤣😂 https://t.co/zABkImLdCY

— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) November 25, 2019

Got to be fun to be a Knicks fan.

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