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Former Brooklyn Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has spent the last year campaigning for another NBA opportunity. His efforts have been to no avail. Entering his fourth straight season without an NBA contract, the 30-year-old continued to voice his confidence in his potential.
“I should be in the NBA, dude. I know everyone knows how hard I work, how much I care about basketball, but that's really where [my social media posts] stemmed from,” Hollis-Jefferson told HoopsHype. “Just one of those days sitting and just thinking about the game, thinking about the highs and lows, and just wanting to be on that big stage and really, really wanting to be closer to home, to be closest to my kids. It's one thing for them to take a max five-hour flight to, say, California, versus a 20-hour travel day to Asia or somewhere else.”
Hollis-Jefferson's last NBA contract came in 2021, when he appeared in 11 games with the Portland Trail Blazers. Before that, the 6-foot-6 forward had a productive start to his career with the Brooklyn Nets.
Former Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson opens up on his overseas journey
The Nets selected Hollis-Jefferson with the No. 23 pick in the 2015 draft. He averaged 9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals on 44.4 percent shooting over four seasons with the team. However, his struggles as an outside shooter (21.2 percent from three on 0.7 attempts per game for his career) led Brooklyn to move on from him after the 2018-19 campaign.
Hollis-Jefferson has since played at numerous international stops. He turned in a very successful performance at the 2023 FIBA World Cup while playing for Jordan.
“Teams like winners at the end of the day. And I feel like I've proven myself to be a winner,” he said of his overseas performance. “But more so than that, I would just say the development, the growth aspect of it. Teams can find players anywhere at any level, at any time. I think it's more about the growth aspect as a person, the maturity I've shown through the pain and struggles I've been through. I think that kind of helped. And that's what stands out to me, to people around me, to someone who would evaluate me, someone that could ask any of my coaches or any of those things. I've been in the Philippines.
“I got there in 2023. I won three back-to-back championships. So you can ask those guys, every single one of my teammates, the guys that are in their 15th, 20th season, they play with multiple different imports. Like who is their favorite import? Who worked the hardest? Who wants to win more than anyone? And those are the things that I feel like really matter, along with working on my jump shot as well.”
Hollis-Jefferson most recently played with Al Riyadi in Lebanon.
