If the NBA has shown anything over the years, it is that separations between players and franchises can often turn messy. At times, players force their way in the ugliest of fashions, while in other cases, team owners make departures unnecessarily painful, regardless of their players’ stature.

This is especially true in almost all cases when a player initially gives a verbal confirmation and then changes his mind. However, Richard Jefferson’s experience with Mark Cuban was just the opposite.

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The former Dallas Mavericks’ owner didn’t just let RJ join his desired franchise but allowed him to walk out gracefully, as he recognized his desperation to be on a better championship-contending team.

Jefferson thanked Cuban for harboring no ill will

In the 2014-15 season, Jefferson appeared in 74 regular-season games for the Mavs, averaging 5.8 points. Although Dallas managed to win 50 games in that campaign, Jefferson understood that his team was far from contending for the title, especially when squads like the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets were only getting better. Put simply, for a veteran nearing the twilight of his career, that gap felt too significant to ignore.

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However, even though Jefferson had initially agreed to sign an extension with Cuban and participate in Dallas’ future plans to chase a title, a second thought truly changed his mind. So, after initial contemplation, when he finally gathered the courage to share his feelings with Cuban, Jefferson assumed that his would lead to an ugly fiasco, as no owner would appreciate his team being undervalued.

Instead, he was met by surprising kindness. Mark held no grudges and only showed appreciation for Richard’s contribution, wishing him nothing but good luck in his future pursuits.

“You’re like, ‘We got DeAndre, we got Wesley Matthews.’ I’m like, I’m in! I’m coming back, all committed,”‘ Jefferson recalled his initial conversation with Cuban on his podcast. “Fast forward, that’s when all of the chaos with DeAndre happened… You were like, ‘Richard, we could feature you because Wesley’s not going to be ready.’ I was like, if I was 31, I’d wanna be featured (but) I’m 34-35… I was like, I think there’s a team in the Eastern Conference. I’m thinking about taking a minimum offer from Cleveland. You let me out of that in the most important moment of my career, and then I end up winning a championship that year.”

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Related: Larry Bird on how ’80s Celtics would adapt to the modern game: “We probably wouldn’t have played as big. We might have gone smaller”

Jefferson won a championship that very season

At 35 years old, Jefferson went on to join the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he averaged just 5.5 points in the regular season and 5.4 in the playoffs. Yet he found himself in the perfect situation, playing a key role in the team’s 2016 championship run, a crowning moment that gave him the storybook ending every veteran dreams of.

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While his numbers didn’t jump off the board, Richard’s presence was undeniable, as Coach Tyronn Lue often trusted him to finish games alongside the likes of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

Thus, RJ’s entire experience reinforced the importance of genuine relationships between players and owners. And it is only because of franchise owners like Cuban that players, even today, believe that separations can be built on respect and honesty.

Related: Richard Jefferson reveals 2016 Cavs team had “an incident where there were punches thrown on our team”

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.