Richard Jefferson Reveals Punches Were Thrown During A Cavs Practice During Second LeBron James Era

On the latest episode of Road Trippin‘, Richard Jefferson revealed that punches were thrown during a Cleveland Cavaliers practice during the second LeBron James era. 

After playing for the Miami Heat from 2010-11 to 2013-14, James signed with the Cavaliers in the summer of 2014. He played for his hometown team for a second time from 2014-15 to 2017-18. 

Jefferson played for the Cavaliers from 2015-16 to 2016-17. The veteran helped Cleveland win the 2016 championship against the Golden State Warriors in seven games. 

“Bron would run the second unit,” Jefferson said. “So they would do one or two reps with the starters, but they knew that the starters have it. So then Bron would come to the second unit. So then Bron would run that and we would play against the rest of the starters.

“Yeah, during one of those, let me say, there were punches thrown. There were punches thrown at one point in time, and it was like, and an apology given later, but it was respect and brotherhood, though.”

The 2016 Cavaliers are the only team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals. James was named Finals MVP. 

Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cavaliers in the summer of 2017. He was traded to the Boston Celtics. 

James left Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. He won his fourth championship and fourth Finals MVP in 2020 at the Walt Disney World bubble.