If the Spurs move Josh Richardson, it won’t simply be because of their chase for assets

San Antonio needs to provide room for its youngest players to grow, which may mean making its roster a little less crowded.

Most of Josh Richardson’s career has been spent on a countdown of sorts, particularly over the last five seasons. He played out the first four years of his NBA experience in Miami, but ever since signing with Philadelphia ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, J-Rich (his preferred nickname) has found himself living the life of a journeyman, hopping from city to city as a 76er, a Maverick, and a Celtic before becoming a Spur.

And now, nearly a year after he was dealt at last season’s deadline from Boston to San Antonio, Richardson can see the writing on the wall once again. But he doesn’t care to think about it all that much.

“I just play. I have never been a guy to really think about stuff like that too much,” he said after Wednesday’s 119-109 loss to the Sacramento Kings. “I just like hooping. When I get out there, that’s just what I do.”

You often hear some variation of this sentiment when players around the league are asked about their names being brought up in rumors around the trade deadline. In some capacity, they understand it’s a business, but it’s fair to wonder about the true, human emotions involved in these situations. No matter how much money you make, it must suck not knowing where you’re going to live from one year to the next, let alone from one month, week or day to another.

But there’s something genuine about J-Rich, a guy who’s about as relaxed off the court as any NBA player you’ll come across. He doesn’t seem fazed by any of this trade or contract talk, and aside from an occasional “no comment” hidden behind a telling smile, he’s got no problem having a conversation about it. In his mind, this is all just part of a job he never dreamed he’d have.

“It’s crazy honestly, because if you knew me in college, I wasn’t in college to go pro. I was kind of there just to get my degree, and a lot of things flipped, and I was a second-round pick to Miami,” Richardson said. “Before I really focused on basketball, I was a kinesiology major and I was studying to go to medical school. I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, and I just turned out hooping.”

And things really haven’t been so terrible on the court for Richardson, despite the fact he was traded from a team that eventually made it to the Finals last season to one that decided to swan-dive into a rebuild last summer. He’s built great relationships with his teammates and Gregg Popovich, which made the change to a bench role — alongside fellow veteran journeyman Doug McDermott — much easier to handle.

“Last year was my first time not starting, and it was a little different for me. But kind of once I got in the groove of things, I kind of liked it, especially here because Pop just lets me do whatever I want. So I’m cool with it,” Richardson said with a laugh before putting his hands up in a shooting motion. “We just go out there and do what we got to do. I relish that role, and me and Doug always talk about it before going in, just being aggressive and doing it on both ends.”

But with the trade deadline only a week away, Richardson (along with the rest of us) must wonder how much longer he’ll be firing away in San Antonio. And it isn’t simply about the arms-and-assets race, or even his expiring contract. The Spurs have young guys who need playing time, and sometimes the best way to go about providing that is to make the roster just a little less crowded.

For all the interest and intrigue surrounding the recently named Rising Star Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham has quietly been looking like a high-value selection with the 20th pick in the draft last summer. He set a new career high in both points (22) and assists (5) against Sacramento, and much of that had to do with the added ball-handling opportunities he received after both Tre Jones (left foot) and Sochan (lower back) were forced from the game with injuries in the first quarter.

On a normal, healthy night, the trio of Jones, Richardson and Sochan have been tasked with much of the primary ball-handling responsibilities in the half-court. But when he’s been given chances to initiate offense, Branham has been quite effective.

While the majority of his possessions have come from spot-up situations this season, the pick-and-roll proficiency Branham displayed at Ohio State has revealed itself in the NBA as he’s been presented with more opportunity. The former Buckeye isn’t going to isolate defenders and cook them off the dribble, nor can he depend on otherworldly athleticism to create shots out of space that isn’t there, but he plays a uniquely intelligent brand of basketball for someone who’s only 19 years old.

“He’s progressing really well. For a young guy, he is picking up a lot of things. Probably the biggest thing is playing against all these NBA guys that he has never played against before,” Pop said. “He is learning a lot and he is playing well, getting more and more aggressive, doing well at both ends of the floor. His progress is great.”

When Branham is on the ball, he’s patient and calm. He use angles well, and he’s precise in his ability to navigate screens. If there’s a pocket of space on the other side of the pick, he’s able to use his strong frame to keep defenders on his hip, take advantage of the room in front of him, and use his length at the rim or rise up for runners and jumpers in the mid-range.

As a facilitator he rarely forces the issue. Most of Branham’s passing comes within the framework of the offense, and while the decision-making process needs some fine-tuning at his age, he does well recognizing that if the shot isn’t there, all he needs to do is find the next man in the sequence. He knows he isn’t some next-level playmaker, so he’s fine just operating within his means at this point.

When Branham is off the ball, he’s constantly flowing into the right spots around the perimeter. He’s not a movement shooter flying around the set the way McDermott does, but he almost always presents himself well for spot-up chances. Additionally, he’s excellent at relocating when a crowd starts to develop on one side of the floor, or when a teammate gets in a bind and needs an outlet.

Basketball is a simple sport when you break it down in a vacuum. And when you hear Branham talk about it, it’s clear even as a teenager all this stuff is just second nature to him. He makes it seem easy, though it almost seems reductive to describe the game that way. He doesn’t fit the traditional description of “point guard,” but the .978 points per possession he generates as a scorer and passer out of the pick-and-roll (per Synergy data) suggests he’s already a middle-of-the-pack ball-handler capable of efficient secondary playmaking.

“It’s just pick-and-roll, coming off and kind of just reading. Seeing if the big is in drop (and I can shoot), or if he is up, I can throw a pocket pass to Jakob (Poeltl) or Zach (Collins). Just those reads, that’s what I have been making. It’s just basketball,” Branham said. “In the pros, I feel like there is more space. In college, everything is just so packed in, it’s harder to run pick and rolls and stuff. But there is a lot of space in this league, so it’s good.”

What makes the path toward a successful NBA career so obvious for Branham is he’s already got the skill set in place. He’s shown he can score at all three levels both off the dribble and out of spot-up situations, and as he grows accustomed to reading NBA defenses, adjusts to the physicality of the league, and refines his outside shot to account for the extra distance between the college and pro 3-point lines, his efficiency and effectiveness should see considerable spikes.

Branham may never be a star, but he’s got the makings of a consistently high-level role player at the very least. If that becomes his lot in life as a 20th overall pick, he’ll be doing well for himself. Anything beyond that is just gravy. Incredibly valuable gravy. But he needs minutes and more concentrated usage in order to accelerate that growth, two areas that could be addressed in short order.

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Given the extenuating circumstances, Richardson has picked a hell of a time to play some of the better basketball of his career. He’s posted a team-best 60.9 effective field-goal percentage and 62.5 true shooting percentage since the calendar flipped to the new year, and he’s managed those numbers while also operating as the team’s de facto backup point guard behind Tre Jones.

We could go down the list of teams that might be interested, but I’ll be honest, damn near every organization that wants to compete could use another ball-handling combo guard/wing who can shoot the ball, make plays for others and disrupt things on the defensive end. Just throw a dart and see where it lands.

The problem is, Richardson fits the mold of a fairly common NBA player archetype, and he’s on an expiring contract to boot. So while the Spurs may be hoping to land a first-round pick in return for his services, the amount of leverage they hold may be minimal considering the other options that exist, as well the apparent widespread reluctance to part ways with draft capital across the league — especially for a player who could end up being a short-term rental. Richardon’s recent run of good form will help in negotiations, but exactly how much remains to be seen.

You never know, though. Just last year the Spurs managed to extract a first-round pick (and Goran Dragic, who was subsequently waived) from a playoff-hungry Raptors team in exchange for Thaddeus Young, Drew Eubanks (who was also waived) and a second-round pick at the last moment. The asset sent to San Antonio turned into — well how ‘bout that — Malaki Branham. Things can happen quickly this time of year, and as I type this, news has just broken that Kyrie Irving has requested a trade from the Nets by the Feb. 9 deadline.

These are the types of situations that can send the market into a tizzy. As soon as one domino falls (especially one as sizable as Kyrie), it can set everything else in motion around the league. Anything can happen if the chips start flying around the table in an arms race, and the Spurs have a boatload of second-round picks they can attach as sweeteners to any potential Richardson deal if suitors need just a little more convincing.

But perhaps most importantly, they also have roughly $27 million in practical cap space on top of their stash of assets, which could allow them to be a third-party facilitator in any major trade. San Antonio could charge a premium in assets to take on bad contracts for other teams needing to match salaries in a transaction, and for those wondering why the Spurs didn’t spend any of the tens of millions of dollars they had available over the offseason, look no further than this exact situation. When you’re a rebuilding team without any hope of contention, don’t just spend your cash for the hell of it.

Because when opportunities like these come along, it helps to be one of the only teams out there with the financial flexibility to make things happen.

Photos courtesy of Bally Sports Southwest
Video courtesy of NBA.com