Richard Jefferson calls Bill Simmons’ criticism ‘an actual lie’

A recurring sports media discussion is a fan saying “They didn’t talk about X!” and a broadcaster responding “Actually, we did.” But those criticisms are more notable when they come from a fan as prominent as The Ringer’s Bill Simmons.

In an X post Sunday, Simmons objected to a perceived lack of coverage of the Boston Celtics’ Payton Pritchard during Saturday’s broadcast of Game 3 against the New York Knicks on ABC. But ESPN on ABC NBA analyst Richard Jefferson, who was on the call alongside Mike Breen and Doris Burke, pushed back in strong terms:

1. Pritch Please
2. Let me fix your post “I’m a huge Boston supporter and I wish they spoke MORE about Pritchard”
3. I personally did a highlight package for Pritchard during the game.
4. So to say we didn’t mention it for 2 hours is an actually lie or maybe a bias opinion.… https://t.co/HMbdufxDgW

— Richard Jefferson (@Rjeff24) May 11, 2025

Awful Announcing can confirm that Jefferson voiced a 20-second “Player resume brought to you by Indeed” segment on Pritchard from late in the game Saturday:

Here’s Richard Jefferson voicing a player resume highlight package on Payton Pritchard on the NBA on ABC broadcast of Celtics-Knicks Saturday. https://t.co/k305M8v3of pic.twitter.com/RZ41ycRMKl

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 11, 2025

Of course, Simmons was very specific with his “almost two hours” line there, with that time frame being less than the whole game. Perhaps he found there to be insufficient mentions of Pritchard before this segment. (However, a term search indicates there were at least 12 other mentions of Pritchard during the game.) There can obviously be a debate about if a certain player received “enough” coverage or not on a game broadcast. But Pritchard being featured in a specific highlights package makes Simmons’ claim here a little tougher.

It is worth noting that Jefferson ended that X post with “Ps… have me on the pod again soon. I miss it.” So it doesn’t look like there’s any bad blood here. But it is funny to see Jefferson chirping one of the world’s most famous Celtics fans for complaining about a lack of Payton Pritchard coverage, despite an entire highlights segment dedicated to him.