Kings rookie Malachi Richardson won’t return to the court for Sacramento this season, according to James Ham of CSN California. CSN’s Kayte Christensen was the first to break the news (video link).
Richardson, one of three players drafted by the Kings in the first round last June, suffered a partially torn hamstring in mid-February. At the time, the Kings announced that Richardson’s recovery would take about four to six weeks, which would put him on track to return now. However, with the team out of the playoff race, there’s little incentive to rush the rookie guard back if he’s not 100% healthy.
Rather than having Richardson return for the final couple weeks of the 2016/17 season, the Kings will take the cautious approach and focus on getting him ready for summer league action.
With Richardson no longer on track to return in 2016/17, his rookie season will end with averages of 3.6 PPG and 1.0 RPG in 22 contests for the Kings. Although he didn’t see much action in Sacramento, the 21-year-old played well during his stints with the D-League’s Reno Bighorns, putting up 21.0 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 11 games.
He’s got serious potential but Hield should be the shooting guard to build around not Malachi. Would be nice to see the Kings win the draft and get Lonzo Ball, he would make Hield,Cauley, and Skal’s games so much easier with his passing. Kings look really good they got 3 bigs to develop in Papagiannis,Cauley, and Skal, they are set at shooting guard with Hield.
As a sixers fan, I hope they win the lottery too :)
As a bulls fan. DEAR GOD WIN OUT. We need this draft pick out young talent is terrible
With the Kings luck, this would be the season they win the lottery and have to give up the number 1 pick…
Agree
Why would they give up thenpick? The Kings are set up to have a better future then alot of teams right now. Skal is a prototypical 4, Cauley is really good and versatile and Hield can be a franchise player just give it time in 2 years the Kings will be in the playoffs.
Sixers have the right to swap first round picks this year.
Little chance they win the lottery. So, keep Dreaming, Sixer’s fans. Bulls fan…..that won’t happen, I think you know it. Even if they had Cousins still and Gay was healthy, they wouldn’t be able to win out the rest of the season.
The Sixers, Lakers, Celtics and Suns are probably going to have the top 4 picks, just depends on who gets what placement. I suspect that the Kings will get the 5/6 or 6/7 picks in all probability. (Depending on how the Pelicans finish).
Now, if the Kings get to keep their pick because Philly gets a top 3-4 pick….I could see them trading with the Celtics to move Gay + the lower pick if they have a chance for Fultz. I think Lonzo Ball is not happening for the Kings, ever…..I think his dad probably would pull a stunt to demand his son sit out and not sign with any team not named the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, Warriors or Spurs. (After the war of words between LeBron and Ball….the Cavs would never happen, and the Bulls and Heat right now lack the “sexy, shiny, new” thing to say “championship contender” that would shut him up, Knicks only a contender because of the media market size…they can argue all of the LA benefits from a financial/corporate standpoint that LA can).
But even the chances of Fultz coming to the Kings is slim to none, a probable pipe dream. But, would the Celtics listen if Gay opts in for next season to rebuild value and for a lotto pick in return? Possibly. The Lakers, Sixers, Suns… No chance…..they want the pick. The Celtics want to have a chance to get another championship. So they might listen to trades if it gets them closer to that goal.
Celtics will not want Rudy Gay. They have no need in their offense for an isolation scorer.
Richardson can play small forward. Get a PG in the draft… Heild, Richardson, Labissiere, Cauley-Stein.
dust44, I think it is yet to be determined on what position Richardson can and will play going forward, same as it is with a few of the Kings young players. Yeah, he might do well as a SF, but honestly, think of him at this point as a 6th man kind of guy more than a starting player. Not to say it can’t and won’t change, just that we haven’t seen enough from him to say he is a starter yet.
If the Kings keep both picks….I see PG and SF as the positions they draft for. With WCS being a beast of a player who just needs a little guidance to unlock it (and he is expected to spend the off season learning from a couple of hall of fame big men so he can become what he wants to be in the NBA, though he hasn’t specified who he is learning from, so I don’t know everyone he is consulting) and Held having a lot of potential…. And the young big men on the team have enough talent to give them time to learn, PG and SF are the 2 glaring holes in the long term look for the Kings. DC is a free agent and Gay might be if he opts out. Lawson is a FA….so they need PG help bad. I could see drafting a pg and then signing a vet like Livingston from GS to mentor and help be a locker room leader and using the other pick on a SF easily. It just makes a lot of sense. That is if they don’t trade the other pick for a talented big man (like the Nets with Lopez) and sign Otto Porter as the SF. Yeah, it might be a bit of pipe dream to think this could happen, but the Kings have a lot of cap room to play with and players want to get paid. So I see someone taking the money to come here, especially with the new arena.
aamotho, That might be true….but GM’s who chase titles sometimes get desperate to get anything that they think can make them a better team. Look at what happened with the Bulls this year. Some people thought they were a title contender because they got Wade and Rondo added. Hasn’t worked out that way thus far, but to say Danny couldn’t jump for a Rudy Gay trade to chase a title, would be silly. I don’t think he’d give that Nets pick up for Gay (Unless the Kings included both of their picks probably), but Gay does represent an upgrade at SF for them which even if his offensive game isn’t a clear fit….they might jump because they want to make sure that next year, they can challenge the Cavs to come out of the east. They might not, not living anywhere close to Boston, I can’t say for sure what Danny is thinking when it comes to the off season. Right now, sure he is worried more about this season. But everyone is planning for next year as well…..and I suspect that it will be a crazy off season.