At one point in time, Jason Richardson was one of the best two-guards in the NBA. Explosive movement, powerful finishes at the rim, and a great shot from behind the arc led him to find stardom playing for the Golden State Warriors. Richardson came out of Michigan State University after a decent college career averaging about 10 points and was selected with the 5th overall pick in the 2001 draft. Richardson soon became the leader of the Warriors, not only due to his scoring ability and all-around good performance but also due to his natural instinct to take charge of situations for the franchise.
One example is that Richardson was the one who urged the franchise to issue an apology letter to their fans after the Warriors failed to make the playoffs for the 12th straight season. Richardson was also well known for his high-flying antics, as he won the 2002 and 2003 NBA dunk contests. He made it to the finals in the 2004 NBA dunk contest but ultimately lost to Fred Jones. Over the years Richardson bounced around from team to team, always being a solid contributor in the scoring column but never finding any real postseason success.
Jason Richardson now plays in the BIG3 3 on 3 league
Richardson found some of his old fame when he was traded to the Phoenix Suns in December of 2008. In his first game as a Sun, Richardson dropped 21 a game-high 21 points and put on a show including an alley-oop from Leandro Barbosa. In his debut season with the Suns, he was able to put up 17 points, 2 assists, and 5 rebounds a game, great stats for a player who was considered to be out of his prime. Richardson was also generally considered to be a good teammate and someone who looked for the team in totality. As we learn 14 years later, this may not exactly have been true.
In 2010, Richardson was teammates with the former MVP point guard, Steve Nash, on the Phoenix Suns. Nash and his wife Alejandra Amarilla were about to welcome their third child. When the baby arrived, the family was shocked to find that the baby’s ethnicity was clearly African whereas both Nash and Amarilla were Caucasian. Nash then received the shock of a lifetime to find out that the baby was not actually his and rather his teammates’, Jason Richardson. Nash filed for divorce from his wife due to her infidelity and moved on.
Due to this incident, Richardson was promptly traded to the Orlando Magic to prevent any hostility in the locker room. Richardson signed a four-year, $25 million deal with the Magic and was even able to lead them to the playoffs in his first year with the team. After a mediocre stint with the Magic, he was traded to the Sixers where he continued to put up about 15 points per game and played his final game on April 11, 2015. He did look to make a return by signing with the Hawks in 2018 but was immediately shut down due to a knee injury flaring up.
Nowadays, Richardson still stays within the realm of basketball, as a player for the BIG3, a 3 on 3 basketball league that consists of ex-NBA players and even some international stars.