The OGs got one of the Miami Heat’s best OGs. Josh Richardson is back in the Miami Heat without his best teammates, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. At the start of his NBA career, he found unprecedented confidence in the vets of the team; even if Miami was missing, who could’ve been considered, a key player.

LeBron James led the Heat to back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. He returned to Cleveland after a failed 2014 three-peat campaign and in the subsequent NBA draft, Josh Richardson arrived in Miami. He was not meant to fill in Bron’s shoes but he had a strong feeling that particular Miami Heat team was the squad to be on.

“First of all, you know we were stacked that year,” Richardson told Haslem and Mike Miller. UD agreed and even added, “We had a damn good squad even with losing Bron.” Without James, they had Chris Bosh and Goran Dragic along with UD and D-Wade. That season, they posted a franchise-high FG% of 67.5, Hassan Whiteside led the league in blocks and ended the regular season as 3rd seed. However, though they were defending champions, the Heat finished the campaign in game 7 of the conference semi-finals against the Toronto Raptors.

The team picked Tennessee alum, Josh Richardson 40th overall in the 2015 NBA draft. But with a ‘stacked roster’ on their hands, there was very little opening for him and he had to prove his worth as he told UD. “I get drafted, you probably remember this, there was no roster spots first of all.”

He further narrated, “So I go to summer league like, okay, like I’m not expecting a contract, I’m not expecting like many camps, I’m not even looking at D-Wade and all those guys. I’m like okay I’m going just try to go here, play well maybe, I’ll like you know get on somewhere.” He got the best encouragement from his family with a handy tip from his dad. “My pops was telling me only one team got to like you.”

The result, he averaged 11.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10 summer league games. That led to a rookie contract in August 2015 and he started his career alongside Wade, Haslem, and Bosh.

Josh Richardson’s homecoming

Richardson didn’t immediately play in the regular season. He had to wait four games to start his first game and a week more for his third when Dwyane Wade had to miss games due to an emergency. After this season, Wade would go to the Chicago and Bosh would not play after February 2016.

Richardson had UD to rely on till Wade returned for a final season in Miami in 2018. Then LeBron James moved West to the Lakers and Richardson was confident Miami could go to the playoffs without its strongest rival in the East because he had Wade and UD again.

Wade would call it an NBA career in 2019 and Josh would be traded to Philadelphia. He’d have a few difficult seasons with injuries and even keeping up with Luka Doncic before a homecoming. He re-signed with Miami in 2023, without his mentors. But Heat Culture is secure with him nonetheless.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video.