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2025 Free Agents - Josh Richardson

After a successful start to his career in Miami, Richardson bounced around to several places, including Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, and San Antonio, before returning to Miami in 2023. Richardson is a two-way wing who can guard multiple positions, but just doesn't have an elite NBA skill. He is not really much of an on-ball creator for himself or others, and isn't a great off-ball threat as a shooter or cutter. Richardson has hit 38% from three over the past two seasons, which is around his career rate. He has upped his 3-point volume in recent years, and is not just a stand-still shooter, as he can hit shots off movement or off-the-dribble. Richardson is a better defender of guards rather than wings since he's on the lighter side for a wing. He consistently puts up good steal and block rates. He will be nearly 32 years old as a free agent in 2025, so there's a chance that age-related regression could be coming soon, as there have already been some signs. He opted in to his minimum value contract in 2024, so that shows that nobody was willing to offer him more than the minimum as a free agent.

Summary

Richardson will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. The Heat could offer Richardson a starting salary of up to 5% more than the average salary (likely around $13.5 million) using the Early Bird exception, which should be more than enough should they wish to bring him back. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Richardson as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also possible that he only gets minimum offers.

Cap Considerations

Delon Wright (1 year minimum, 2024) Eric Gordon (1+1 year minimum, 2024) Seth Curry (2-1 years, $8 million, 2023)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Lakers, Heat, Clippers, Timberwolves, Bucks

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $3.6 million ($2.3 million cap hit) with the Lakers

Last updated: 8/12/2024

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