Jason Richardson spent almost two decades in the basketball limelight, as the former shooting guard saw a good amount of success in his basketball career.
Richardson was part of an NCAA championship team during his freshman season at Michigan State, then went on to have a solid 13-season career in the NBA. That included becoming an All-Star weekend standout and playing for multiple teams that found playoff success.
Now Richardson’s son is carving out his own role in basketball, as Jase Richardson is a star on the second-seeded Michigan State team. With Jase preparing to make his own mark in both college and the NBA, now’s a good time to look back on Jason Richardson’s lucrative career.
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Jason Richardson college
Richardson attended Michigan State from 1999-2001, playing 70 games over two years. As a freshman, Richardson averaged just 5.1 points and 4.1 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game, but he was a role player on the Spartans first and only national title team.
The following year, Richardson took a more prominent role in Michigan State, starting 32 of his 33 games and averaging 14.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. The shooting guard would enter the NBA draft after his sophomore season.
Jason Richardson NBA career
The Golden State Warriors drafted Richardson with the No. 5 overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft.
Richardson spent six seasons with the Warriors, including a career-best season in 2005-06 when he averaged 23.2 points and 5.8 rebounds. Richardson was also a key member of the “We Believe” Warriors when Golden State went 42-40 but swept the top-seeded Mavericks as a No. 8 seed in the NBA playoffs.
In the 2007 offseason, the Warriors traded Richardson to the Bobcats, where Richardson would spend parts of two seasons. However, Charlotte didn’t make the playoffs in its first season with Richardson, and the team traded him to the Suns in the middle of the 2008-09 season.
Although the Suns missed the playoffs the year they traded for Richardson, they would put together a strong season the following year. Richardson started 76 games for the Suns in 2009-10 alongside Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire, as Phoenix won 54 games and made the Western Conference Finals.
However, the Suns regressed the next season, which led to them trading Richardson to the Magic midseason. Richardson signed a four-year extension there, playing parts of two seasons in Orlando, but the Magic would lose in the first round of the playoffs both times.
After the 2011-12 season, the Magic traded Richardson to the 76ers in a four-team deal that also sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers. Richardson dealt with injuries throughout his time in Philadelphia, as he missed the entire 2013-14 season and played just 52 games in three seasons.
In the summer of 2015, Richardson initially signed with the Hawks, but he retired not long after when he struggled to return from his knee injury.
While Richardson was a solid player for 13 seasons, his greatest achievements may have been as a dunker. Richardson won the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest in both 2002 and 2003, making him one of seven players to win the event multiple times.
Jason Richardson NBA stats
| Year | Team(s) | Games | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2001-02 | Warriors | 80 | 14.4 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 42.6% | 33.3% | 67.1% |
| 2002-03 | Warriors | 82 | 15.6 | 4.6 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 41.0% | 36.8% | 76.4% |
| 2003-04 | Warriors | 78 | 18.7 | 6.7 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 43.8% | 28.2% | 68.4% |
| 2004-05 | Warriors | 72 | 21.7 | 5.9 | 3.9 | 1.5 | 44.6% | 33.8% | 69.3% |
| 2005-06 | Warriors | 75 | 23.2 | 5.8 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 44.6% | 38.4% | 67.3% |
| 2006-07 | Warriors | 51 | 16.0 | 5.1 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 41.7% | 36.5% | 65.7% |
| 2007-08 | Bobcats | 82 | 21.8 | 5.4 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 44.1% | 40.6% | 75.2% |
| 2008-09 | Bobcats, Suns | 72 | 16.8 | 4.4 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 47.7% | 39.7% | 76.9% |
| 2009-10 | Suns | 79 | 15.7 | 5.1 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 47.4% | 39.3% | 73.9% |
| 2010-11 | Suns, Magic | 80 | 15.6 | 4.1 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 44.7% | 39.5% | 73.0% |
| 2011-12 | Magic | 54 | 11.6 | 3.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 40.8% | 36.8% | 59.4% |
| 2012-13 | 76ers | 33 | 10.5 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 40.2% | 34.1% | 60.6% |
| 2014-15 | 76ers | 19 | 9.1 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 34.8% | 32.3% | 77.3% |
Jason Richardson career earnings
Richardson earned over $104 million over the course of his career, according to Spotrac.
After the Warriors drafted him, Richardson signed a four-year, $11.4 million rookie contract in 2001. Then, Golden State extended him on a six-year, $70 million contract that ran from 2005-10, when Richardson played on four different teams.
When the Magic traded for Richardson in 2010, they gave him a four-year, $24 million extension, on which Richardson would play for both Orlando and Philadelphia. Richardson also signed a veteran’s minimum deal with the Hawks in 2015, but knee injuries would force him to retire before the season began.
