Malachi Richardson's Time to Shine
- Noah Tinoco
- Jan 3, 2017
- 2 min read
Malachi Richardson was the 22nd overall pick in this past year's draft and his draft rights were traded to the Kings in exchange for Marco Belinelli. The Kings had a logjam at the Shooting Guard position during training camp and preseason with Ben McLemore, as well as newcomers Arron Afflalo, Garrett Temple, and Lamar Patterson to go along with Malachi Richardson.
The one bright spot in this group has been Garrett Temple. Temple's defense, energy, and surprise scoring has been very huge off the bench especially with the injuries to Rudy Gay. Temple is also one of only three Kings to play in all 33 games so far this season. Unfortunately, the other names mentioned have been underwhelming. Neither Afflalo (18 starts) nor McLemore (12 starts) have been able to make an impact when in the starting lineup. McLemore drew the start Saturday afternoon and had 4 points in 15 minutes. Afflalo has been dealing with an elbow issue and did not play.
It looks like it is time for the Kings to turn to the rookie out of Syracuse. Reports have surfaced that Malachi is poised to enter Coach Joerger's rotation. Richardson has been tearing it up in Reno with the Bighorns, the Kings D-league affiliate. In 11 games, Richardson has been averaging 35.0 MPG and 21.3 PPG. Scoring is something the Kings desperately need from the SG position and Richardson can provide that.
Malachi Richardson is only 20-years old and has tons of time to grow and develop, however the potential is there now. It doesn't seem like anything else is going to work as the Ben McLemore experiment might finally be over. Enter right, Malachi Richardson. Kings fans might want to get used to that name.
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