Richardson addresses trade speculation, role as leading man

MIAMI — As he stood in a locker room that was transformed by Kelly Olynyk’s game-winning putback with two-tenths of a second to play, Josh Richardson was asked late Thursday night about mental drain.

Of that, the fourth-year Miami Heat wing knows plenty.

The question centered on, for the first time in his NBA career, being cast as a leading man.

“Mentally,” he said, “you just don’t have any possessions off anymore.”

But the drain runs deeper and has run deeper over the past month.

Being asked to do more on the court is one thing. The 21 shots he has attempted in each of the first two games of the season represent the most the 2015 second-round pick out of Tennessee has taken in any game in his career. That’s basketball; that’s what he does.

But it is off the court where it all has been new and persistent and challenging.

Google the name Jimmy Butler and you’re likely to come across Richardson’s

name as well, with the two linked in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ efforts to attempt to trade their disgruntled All-Star guard.

“It’s a business,” Richardson said during a private moment. “It is what it is. It’s a cutthroat business. I know that. I can’t get too up or too down about situations like that.”

But they also can’t be ignored.

“For like the first hour, I was hearing from everyone,” he said of when his name initially was reported as the Timberwolves’ trade focus. “But after that, it is what it is. I don’t get too much into it. When it first came out a little bit, yeah, it was hard to ignore.”

The conjecture began well in advance of these past two games that have the Heat 1-1 entering Saturday’s home opener at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Charlotte Hornets.

Well before Richardson scored 21 points in Wednesday’s season-opening 104-101 loss to the Orlando Magic.

Well before he followed up with 28 points in Thursday’s 113-112 victory over the Washington Wizards, two shy of his career high.

Well before he stepped out of bounds in the final ticks in Orlando.

Well before he converted the biggest 3-pointer late in Washington.

“It was a distraction at first,” he said of the constant reporting that he soon might need to upgrade his winter wear. “But, I mean, I don’t know. I’m not a person that gets into all that stuff. I know everything happens for a reason. I believe in God, so I’ll be in the right place.”

This, both in terms of South Florida location and emergence as leading man, remains the place of choice, if only because of the sweat equity already invested at 601 Biscayne.

“I pretty much embrace it now,” he said of being cast as the Heat’s leading man. “I had a whole summer of it and, at times, it was like that last year. So I’m pretty much used to it.”

Getting used to trade speculation — a relatively new phenomenon at 25 — is another story.

“I’ve been chillin’, man. It is what it is,” he said. “Wherever I’m at, I’m going to do what I’m going to do.”

And that’s the thing, for all of the assurances that he’s coveted, for all the words offered by Pat Riley about a desire to keep the team together, Richardson acknowledges his insight isn’t much different than anyone else trying to sort through the speculation.

“The [amount of] texts haven’t been too bad lately,” he said during the private moment. “I just tell them, ‘Don’t ask me about it. I know less than you do.’ “

What he does know is that times are changing. Be it Twin Cities or South Florida, there no longer will be a largely anonymous path through the NBA.

“If we win, it’s great,” he said, “and if we lose, it’s gonna be put on me most of the time. So just being ready for that.

“It’s a little bit more tough both ways, because physically you’ve got to expend a lot more to get open. And you have the ball in your hands a lot, so people can be pressuring you. And, you know, I’m a two-way player; it’s a little bit tougher.”

What it should be, coach Erik Spoelstra said, is inspiring.

“The ball is in your hands and you have a Hall of Famer [Dwyane Wade] there pointing to you to say, ‘Make a play for the team,’ “Spoelstra said. “He’s starting to realize what he’s capable of doing -- more importantly, what he can do for our team when he’s assertive.”

NICK WASS/AP The Heat’s Josh Richardson has found himself as the focus of both trade speculation regarding Jimmy Butler acquisition scenarios as well as the focus of opposing defenses.