SEPTEMBER 10th: Richardson has been told that he will miss six to eight weeks due to his knee injury, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel relays (via Twitter).
SEPTEMBER 9th: Heat swingman Josh Richardson has suffered a partially torn MCL in his right knee, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (on Twitter). His return time will depend on how well his rehabilitation efforts go, the scribe adds. Based on Charania’s wording, it does not appear that surgery is currently planned for the player. Richardson suffered the injury during practice when he landed awkwardly after a dunk attempt, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald tweets.
This news is certainly a blow to the Heat, who touted the second-year player as one of their building blocks and defensive leaders. The only consolation for Miami is that the team is deep in the backcourt and were going to have to do some rotation shuffling in order to dole out playing time to the other guards and swingmen on its roster.
Richardson was the No. 40 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft and he appeared in 52 games for the Heat in 2015/16. The 22-year-old posted averages of 6.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21.3 minutes per outing. His shooting line on the campaign was .452/.461/.667. His contract for this season, which is fully guaranteed, will pay him $874,636.
I don’t want to say it definitively, b/c I’m just thinking off the top of my head, but this is possibly the worst offseason I can remember as a heat fan