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Richard Allan Jefferson (born June 21, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) is a 6'7" (2.01 m) American professional basketball player. As of 2005, he plays small forward for the New Jersey Nets in the National Basketball Association.

Jefferson does a lot of community service ranging from working at soup kitchens to volunteering to play basketball with kids in New York City. His parents were both Christian missionaries and he moved around a lot growing up.

Jefferson played college basketball at the University of Arizona. He was drafted as the 13th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, but he was traded to New Jersey along with the draft rights to Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong in exchange for the draft rights to Eddie Griffin. It was a trade that ultimately favored the Nets. Thus far, Jefferson has played three seasons with New Jersey and was a key element of their back-to-back Eastern Conference Championship teams of 2002 and 2003.

Jefferson was a member of the USA Olympic basketball team in during the 2004 Summer Olympics.

On August 13, 2004, Jefferson signed a six-year, $78,000,000 contract extension with the Nets.

It was announced on January 11, 2005 that Jefferson would miss the remainder of the regular season after rupturing a ligament in his left wrist, an injury he claimed occurred when Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups purposely undercut him on a layup attempt during a game on December 27, 2004. Jefferson ended up missing 49 games during the 2004-2005 season, but returned to action for the first round of the playoffs against the Miami Heat. Prior to suffering the injury, Jefferson had missed only five games in his three NBA seasons.

During 2004-2005, Jefferson had his best professional season, averaging 22.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.

Jefferson's nickname is RJ.

Richard Jefferson is originally from Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Moon Valley High School.