Childhood & Early Life
Josh Richardson was born Joshua Michael Richardson, in Edmond, Oklahoma, on September 15, 1993, to Alice and Michael Richardson. He was the second child in the family and grew up with his older sister, Alex Richardson, who was 5 years older to him.
His father worked as a firefighter. His mother was a retired lieutenant colonel in the ‘United States Air Force Reserve.’ She was also an ordained Baptist minister. Richardson grew up in a highly religious Christian family. He strictly follows the Christian faith to this day.
His love for sports became evident when he was 6 years old. During the initial days, he loved playing football. However, his older sister played basketball in school, which helped Richardson develop an interest in the game.
Being from a military background, his mother further instilled discipline in both her children. Due to this, Richardson became focused quite early in life. Around the time he was in middle school, he had a big change of heart. He decided to focus more on basketball, as compared to baseball and football.
His parents were supportive and practiced with Richardson to help him polish his skills as a basketball player. While his father became his first-ever coach, his mother made sure he went to the gym regularly to maintain a taut physique.
As a result, by the time he was in ‘Santa Fe High School,’ Richardson had already become an exceptional basketball player.
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Career
He played for his school’s basketball team while he studied at ‘Santa Fe High School.’ He performed exceptionally well. His performance improved a lot during his final year at the high school, with him scoring an average of 16.5 points per game, along with 6.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
During the same year, he was honored with a place on the ‘Oklahoma Coaches Association “Large-West” All-State Team.’ Oklahoma’s leading daily ‘The Oklahoman’ also named him to the state’s ‘Super 5’ team. With these honors and some great performances on his resume, he enrolled at the ‘University of Tennessee’ to continue his journey to become an ‘NBA’ player.
He played in all four seasons for his college team, the ‘Volunteers,’ and appeared in a total of 136 games. During his 4 years as a key member of the university team, Richardson scored an average of 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.
His performance improved significantly during his college years. During his junior year, he only scored an average of 10.3 points per game, while he finished his senior season with an astonishing average of 16.0 points per game.
His performances also led him to win several honors. He was named to the ‘First Team All-SEC,’ the ‘SEC All-Defensive Team,’ and the ‘Defensive All-American.’ With achievements such as these, it was certain that he would be beginning his ‘NBA’ career in the year of his graduation from the university.
He was picked by ‘Miami Heat’ in the 2015 ‘NBA Draft’ as the 40th pick. He first played in the summer leagues with the team. He averaged 11.8 points in his 10 summer league games. Following this performance, he was officially signed by the ‘Miami Heat’ management.
He missed the first four regular season games and made his ‘NBA’ debut on November 5, against the ‘Minnesota Timberwolves.’ His early performance with the ‘Miami Heat’ was pretty average. In December 2015, he was assigned to play with the team ‘Sioux Falls Skyforce,’ which was ‘Miami Heat’s ‘D-League’ team. He was, however, called back into the main team in January.
In a game against the ‘Chicago Bulls’ in March 2016, Richardson scored a career-high 22 points, leading his team to a victory. They had a 118–96 win over the ‘Chicago Bulls.’ This performance, along with a few others, had him earning the honor of the ‘Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month’ for March 2016. Thus, he became only the third player in ‘Heat’s history to win the honor.
In July 2016, he started his second year with ‘Heat,’ but after a few games, he suffered an injury. He had torn a ligament in his right knee, which kept him away from the basketball court for the next few weeks. In a December game against ‘Oklahoma City Thunder,’ he tied with 22 points.
He reached a new career-high against the ‘Los Angeles Clippers,’ scoring 28 points in a December 2017 game. Two weeks earlier, he had achieved a career-high 27 points against the ‘Charlotte Hornets.’
In October 2018, he scored a career-high score of 31 points against the ‘Sacramento Kings.’ In February 2019, he surpassed that with 37 points against the ‘Golden State Warriors.’
In the 2019 ‘NBA’ season, he was signed by the ‘Philadelphia 76ers.’
