ESPN's Richard Jefferson says Toronto is a "top-5" NBA city

Count NBA vet Richard Jefferson as a member of the Toronto fan club.

In case you missed it, there’s been a lot of discussion this week about the merits of Toronto as a destination for NBA star players in the wake of the Kevin Durant rumours.

“Great city, but it’s not America, and you feel it when you’re there,” Fox Sports analyst Chris Broussard said on Monday’s edition of First Things First. “Especially as an African American, it’s a different situation than African Americans are used to being in… I’ve talked to people in that organization pre-Ujiri about can they keep African American superstars there?”

Jefferson then shared a video on his social media platforms as what he called a “defence” of Toronto.

My thoughts on Toronto! pic.twitter.com/PaDQ8z0MAD

— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) July 6, 2022

“I just want to go on record here and say as a media member and as a player for 17 years, Toronto is one of the greatest cities I’ve ever been to,” Jefferson said. “It’s one of the most beautiful cities, the people, the energy, the food. Everyone is so nice. We always call it the ‘nice New York,’ and players love going to New York.”

Jefferson played 17 seasons for eight teams, including the Nets, Spurs, and Cavaliers. He averaged 12.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 1,181 regular-season games, and won the NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016.

“Toronto is one of the top five cities in the NBA,” he added. “Toronto, Miami, New York, LA and then for me personally, I say Phoenix.”

Jefferson also directly addressed Broussard’s comments.

“I’m gonna say this as an African American player. When you look at a place like Toronto … there are so many different types of people here, and [it] seems like there’s a positive energy everywhere you go,” Jefferson said. “I’m going to say that [Broussard’s opinion] is false. I have not talked to Chris about this, but I’m going to come to the defence of Toronto and say, Toronto … you guys are all right in my book.”

When he’s not making social media videos for his 987,000 Tiktok followers, Jefferson also currently works as an analyst for ESPN.

“I will not respect a generalization of an entire country and city! I spoke about my experience and I disagreed with his take. I was respectful to him. I just said I’ve never heard a player speak negatively about the city on top of my 17 as a player and as media,” Jefferson said in a follow-up tweet.

You might also like:
• Otto Porter Jr. explains why he left champion Warriors for Raptors