Grateful Richardson: ‘I will never forget you guys’
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The silence at the moment from teams and league officials in NBA free agency remains deafening.
Such is the reality of the league’s personnel moratorium that puts formal completion of deals on hold.
So only crickets to this point from the Miami Heat front office on the trade for Jimmy Butler, or even about the acquisition of secondround pick KZ Okpala, the forward out of Stanford.
That will change Saturday, when the NBA’s numbers crunchers get back to crunching numbers and signing off on the league-altering moves agreed upon these past two weeks. At the moment, it only leaves the players to offer their thoughts.
For Josh Richardson, who goes to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Butler deal, his statement came on his Twitter account.
“Miami, thank you,” he posted. “Thank you for giving this kid and opportunity that otherwise I’m not sure he would have gotten. Thank you to the coaches and my teammates. Thank u to the fans for embracing me. My years there have been great and I will never forget you guys. Always love!”
Richardson then spoke to Local 10’s Will Manso, the Heat’s studio analyst, at the Miami pro-am league.
“I was taken off guard,” he said of Sunday’s trade whirlwind. “Once I talked to Coach, I was really excited.”
Richardson was contacted by 76ers General Manager Elton Brand even before the trade was finalized.
“I don’t know if I’d be in the NBA if the Heat hadn’t drafted me and given me a chance,” he reiterated of being the No. 40 pick in the 2015 draft. “I’ll forever be grateful.”
There were so many permutations speculated about the Butler trade that Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. initially thought he was part of the trade. Ultimately, it turned into a four-team deal with the Portland Trail Blazers that sent Hassan Whiteside to the Blazers and a future protected Heat first-round pick to the Clippers.
“I saw my name, so, yeah, I was worried,” Jones told Manso. “But at the end of the day, I’m not going anywhere. I love it here and they love me here.
“We lost one of our brothers. We gained an AllStar-caliber player.”
Heat center Bam Adebayo also spoke at the proam league.
“I was with him when it happened,” Adebayo said of Richardson. “That’s why it was a downer. That’s my brother. But at the end of the day, we have to remember it’s a business and we’re trying to win.”
As for Butler, Adebayo said, “He brings a junkyard dog kind of feel. He wants to win and he wants to be a star.”
While those comments were being offered, former Heat forward Rodney McGruder was completing a three-year, $15 million agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Heat released McGruder the final week of the season due to luxury-tax concerns and ultimately would have been unable to offer a similar deal this offseason due to their salary-cap situation.
“I want to thank @Miami HEAT organization for giving me the opportunity to showcase my abilities over the last 3 years,” McGruder posted on Twitter. “I am thankful for all of my family, friends and fans for supporting me through my journey!! CLIPPER NATION LETS GET IT!! @LAClippers.”
Heat Managing General Partner Micky Arison responded to McGruder’s post with a post of his own that read, “Congrats.”