Jason Richardson was the 5th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft and spent most of his 15-year career with the Warriors, but from 2010-2012, the shooting guard was on the Orlando Magic roster.
Basketball is a family affair for the Richardsons, a fact that became even more true Wednesday night as Jason’s son Jace was drafted to the Magic with pick 25 in the first round of the 2025 NBA draft.
The Michigan State freshman is no stranger to the league after growing up on the sidelines of his dad’s games, but his game is much different from the former Golden State athlete. Richardson averaged 25.3 minutes last season, with 12.1 points per game and shooting 83.6% from the free throw line.
It’s a smart selection for Orlando, who fell in five games to the Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference Finals. Richardson’s consistency from beyond the arc (41.2%) is going to benefit the Magic, who only made 26.3% of their 3-point attempts last season. He can still improve in field goal accuracy (49.3%), but Richardson’s average is still higher than Orlando’s as a team (42.2%).
The guard was a standout for the Spartans in his freshman season. Richardson added 20 points in the Spartans 73-70 Sweet Sixteen win over Ole Miss. He added 21 and 15 points in the first two rounds of March Madness, respectively.
As a high school prospect, the lefthander was ranked No. 37 nationally and No. 7 in the state of Florida, per 247Sports. He was a standout at Miami’s Columbus High School, where he helped lead his team to three straight state titles.
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But his plan wasn’t to be one and done at Michigan State.
Richardson told Forbes NBA analyst Mat Issa: “At first, I was just grateful to be playing as a freshman under Izzo. But as the season went on, I kind of just felt the trust of him and my teammates keep going up.”
As he built momentum, he started to see the draft as a possibility. It was Spartan head coach Tom Izzo, who’d coached his father, that told Richardson he should declare for the draft.
"He was like, 'Yeah, I can’t see you staying here one more year. You need to go.’ So, I think that was really like the main thing that told me, 'Yeah, I think I’m ready to do this,'” Richardson said.