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The Miami Heat have signed guard Josh Richardson to a multi-year contract extension.
According to the Palm Beach Post, “Richardson inked his four-year, $42 million contract extension today, the team announced. The deal, reported last week and confirmed by the Post, starts in 2018-19 and includes a player option for the fourth year. The extension was a nice birthday gift for the 6-foot-6 guard, who turned 24 on Friday.”
Richardson, who was originally selected by the HEAT in the second round (40th overall) in the 2015 NBA Draft, appeared in 53 games (34 starts) last season with Miami and averaged 10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.13 steals and 30.5 minutes. He outperformed every major statistical category from his rookie campaign and was one of eight HEAT players to average double-figures in points, marking the most for any team in the NBA last season. As a rookie in 2015-16, Richardson shot 46.1 percent (53-of-115) from three-point range, the highest percentage by a HEAT rookie in team history while also tying the third-highest percentage by any rookie in NBA history (with a minimum of 100 attempts). Additionally, he shot 58.9 percent (33-of-56) during the month of March in his rookie season, marking the second-highest percentage for a single month in NBA history (with a minimum of 50 attempts) while capturing Rookie of the Month honors.
Richardson, who played four seasons at Tennessee, appeared in 136 career games (110 starts) for the Volunteers and averaged 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.08 steals and 28.2 minutes while shooting 45.6 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from three-point range and 75.8 percent from the foul line. He finished his career ranking third in school history in games played, ninth in minutes (3,802), ninth in starts, 10th in steals (147), 16th in blocks (88) and 28th in points (1,252).
