According to ESPN’s league sources, shooting guard Josh Richardson and Miami Heat have agreed on a 4-year contract extension worth $42 million. The contract extension Richardson signed includes a player option for the fourth year. The talks between Richardson’s agents and Miami Heat officials were ongoing for a couple of weeks, with the team immediately expressing their intent to offer Richardson the max deal. This contract extension will become effective from the 2018-2019 season. It isn’t a surprise that the Heat wanted Josh Richardson to remain a part of the team since 24 years old profiled himself as one of the franchise’s cornerstones and has shown a potential to become a valuable two-way player.
Josh Richardson played his college basketball at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. He was part of the Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team for 4 seasons, appearing in 136. During his college career, Richardson played 28.2 minutes per game, averaging 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.08 steals. He was shooting 75.8 percent from the line, 45.6 percent from the field and 31.8 percent for three-points. His college honors include First-team All-SEC in 2015 and SEC All-Defensive Team in 2014 and 2015.
Richardson entered the 2015 NBA draft, where he was drafted in the second round by the Miami Heat as the 40th overall pick. In his rookie season, Richardson played in 52 games for the Heat (two of them as a starter), averaging 6.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. In 2016-17, he improved his numbers while starting 34 games. He ended playing 53 games in total while having troubles with an ankle injury. During the last season, Richardson averaged 10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
