We all knew it would probably happen last week (and I silently thought it from the beginning), but on Monday it became officially official: Malachi Richardson is leaving Syracuse for the NBA. ESPN reported Monday Richardson had signed with agent Andy Miller, stripping him of his college eligibility and turning him over to the NBA.
Miller has been in the business for a while now. He represents Chauncey Billups, Kevin Garnett, Kristaps Porzingis, Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry and others. He’s also had a monopoly on the Syracuse basketball market as of late, signing both Chris McCullough and Rakeem Christmas last year. In this year’s draft, he represents Florida State’s Malik Beasley and North Carolina’s Brice Johnson.
In his one season with the Orange, Richardson averaged 13.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He shot 37 percent from the field and just over 35 percent from behind the arc. He’ll be most remembered for his play in his only NCAA Tournament, where he helped get Syracuse to the Final Four and scored 23 in a comeback victory against Virginia in the Elite Eight.
Richardson has been all over draft boards in the past month. Chad Ford has his at No. 20 in his latest rankings, but just weeks ago other sites had him as a borderline undrafted rookie. Since then, Richardson has made it onto most draft boards, but where he’ll go is still far from decided. He could be a lottery pick, but he could also go in the second round.
Posted: Nathan Dickinson
