Richard Jefferson Recalls Getting Tipsy With Raptors Cheerleaders the Night Before the Game: “Bartender, Can I Get 25 Shots Immediately”

Richard Jefferson told a fantastic tale about how he partied all night long with the Toronto Raptors dance team before playing one of his finest games ever.

With the New Jersey Nets, Richard Jefferson was one of the most impressive wings of the early 2000s, soaring all over the court. During his tenure with the Nets, Jefferson told a fantastic drinking tale about how a night out with the Toronto Raptors dance squad culminated in one of his best games ever.

As soon as Jefferson arrived in the city, he began by talking about the evening.

“You must. You start playing hoops in September or October and continue until May or June. After a binge, every athlete can narrate the tale of one of their wildest nights. We landed in Toronto when I may have been 26 or 27 years old. After our game, which ended at two o’clock, my boy suggested that we head to Vince’s club in Toronto.

Jefferson went to the club with the intention of having a low-key evening, but to his surprise, the entire Raptors dance team was there celebrating.

We go there as though we’re just going to hang out and have a few drinks, nothing special. While we were chatting at the bar, a female wearing a shirt that read “crazy b**ch” walked by. Another girl I saw was like, “Wild b**ch,” as she passed by. I queried one of them as they were passing by, and she said, “Oh, this is our Christmas party. We’re the Toronto Raptors dance team.” “Bartender, can we get 25 shots right away?” I exclaimed.

After getting drunk with the dance team, Jefferson revealed he got the number of one of the girls that night.

“They knew I played and was going to play against them the next day. We’re turning it on, getting drunk, how often are you gonna be the few guys and the entire Toronto Raptors dance team is all here to get drunk? I go to bed at 6 AM. I didn’t take anyone back but I did get a phone number.”

He had an afternoon game the next day against the Raptors and said he had one of the best games of his career, ending the game with 39 points.

“The next day, I had one of my greatest games. I had 20 points in the first half and I’m telling you, the game was an early tip. It wasn’t a regular 7:30, you can go get some rest. I had 20 points in the first half and I’m coming out, end up with like 39. I remember looking over at their whole dance team. They were all beautiful women but they looked haggard. They looked exhausted. The whole row of them. The one girl I got the number of, I texted her after the game and she said that all the girls were like, ‘He was drinking with us right?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna have to sleep for two days, that was pure adrenaline.'”

Jefferson then discussed why NBA players can have such incredible drinking nights and still compete at the highest level.

“In the NBA, we’re all crazy and psychotic. the only way to be one of the 450 players in the world and stay there. You’re physically gifted and also a little psycho. You have those moments where you’re like ‘f**k it’, just go out there and get it done. But yeah, your teammates know. There are guys that reek of alcohol, throwing up at half time. The league has changed but it used to be crazier.”