Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Back in the Miami mix
Richardson on moving on from the Heat: ‘My brothers still play here’
MIAMI — If there was any doubt about bonds that endure, Josh Richardson stands as an example of Miami Heat compassion and empathy.
On June 30, as it became apparent that Richardson was about to be flipped to the Philadelphia 76ers for Jimmy Butler, he took solace alongside a teammate.
“It was tough,” he said. “Bam was with me when it happened.”
Then this weekend, just hours after Heat center Bam Adebayo was released from USA Basketball training camp in Las Vegas, Richardson sat alongside, lightening the mood, as the two watched a Big3 basketball game at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“My brothers still play here,” Richardson said moments later by the only home locker room he had known for his first four NBA seasons. “Like, I’m a Heat fan. I’ll be a Suns fan. I’ll be a Clippers fan. I’ll be a fan of all the teams that my brothers are still on.
“I mean, it’s different. But as you can see out there — Rodney, Tyler, Bam, we’re all still brothers. At the end of the day, it’s bigger than basketball.”
Richardson not only spent Saturday night with Adebayo, he spent it with Tyler Johnson, dealt last season to the Suns, and Rodney McGruder, who has moved on to the Clippers, as well as with Heat forward James Johnson.
“I’ll be keeping up with you guys and hopefully my boys are doing good,” Richardson said of the Heat. “But when it comes to game time, it’s business.”
The business part of the equation became more than evident over the past year, with Richardson going from go-to player at the start of last season to trade chip shortly after season’s end.
“I mean once it happened and I started looking at everything, it was smooth,” he said. “I got excited once I saw our roster that we’re going to be working with, and I think we’ve got a good chance to come out of the East. And I’m excited to be able to go and play for a contender.”
For the first two months of last season, until Dwyane Wade’s reemergence as go-to scorer, Richardson had stood as the Heat’s leading man. Now, he arguably slots in somewhere beyond Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Al Horford and Tobias Harris in Philadelphia.
“It’s not really like that — one through five, that makes no sense,” he said. “It’s not like a certain amount of touches every game. But being able to play with so much talent, it’s exciting.
“You can’t give one guy too much attention because you have four other guys that can hurt you just as much. Being able to play with guys like Ben and Jo, Tobias, Al ... I’m excited.”
But he is also nostalgic.
When Richardson arrived at No. 40 in the 2015 draft out of Tennessee, it was alongside No. 10 Heat selection Justise Winslow. That left the two as Rook 1 and Rook 2, replete with Dr. Seuss-style shirts.
“It was fun,” Richardson reminisced. “Getting to learn with Justise was a pleasure and, I think he’s going to keep growing. And I thought we had great [veterans] our rookie year to kind of take us in because everybody doesn’t get that opportunity. We’ll still get to keep in touch with those guys, so I’m grateful for that.
“I think I grew a lot and I’m thankful for it. But, you know, everything must come to an end. So I’m moving on.”
But only to a degree, as nights such as Saturday showed.
“I’ll probably keep a spot here,” he said. “But, I mean, I love Miami. I love the city.”