Before the 2025NBA Draft, we’ll take an in-depth look at different prospects here at Liberty Ballers and try to figure out which players would be the best fit for theSixers at Nos. 3 and 35. Next up in this series isMichigan State’s Jase Richardson.
Sure, it is not ideal for Philadelphia that there are a lot of guards projected to go in this year’s lottery. By now we all know that the Sixers would like to bring back Quentin Grimes in restricted free agency, and healthier seasons from Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain in 2025-26 are expected. Maxey has certainly proven enough in his NBA service time that would make him worth prioritizing in future rotations. However, McCain has only played in 23 NBA games and Grimes’ time with the Sixers is thus far limited to 28 games on one of the worst teams in the league.
What if the Sixers simply rate one of the guards in this year’s lottery as a prospect that they believe will have a better career than at least one of McCain or Grimes? It would seem pretty short-sighted to be passing on lottery-rated prospects due to a duo of guards that has only played a combined 51 games for your franchise. With that said, as we continue to preview the lottery, we’ll take a look at Michigan State guard Jase Richardson, son of former Sixer Jason Richardson, today.
Profile:
2024-25 Stats: 36 games, 25.3 minutes, 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.3 blocks, 49.3 FG%, 41.2 3P%, 83.6 FT%
Team: Michigan State
Year: Freshman
Position: G
Height and Weight: 6’0.5” (without shoes) and 178.4 pounds
Born: October 16, 2005 (Rookie season in NBA will be his age-20 season)
Hometown: Denver, CO
Strengths
In his lone season in East Lansing, Richardson displayed a variety of offensive skills. What seems to jump out to many scouts is his quickness and ability to beat defenders off the dribble. Richardson’s self-creation coupled with reliable outside shooting make him a threat to score at all three levels in halfcourt sets. For a guard of his size, he finishes through contact decently well and his shot mechanics appear to be pretty fluid which would suggest he’s already a well-developed jump shooter both inside and outside the arc.
Jase’s father Jason was a national champion at Michigan State in 2000 as a freshman. Unlike Jase, Jason stayed at Michigan State for his sophomore season and became a first-team All-Big 10 selection in 2001 on his way to becoming the fifth overall pick that summer by Golden State. It should come as no surprise that a player whose father thrived under Tom Izzo and played for Izzo himself, has a high basketball IQ.
This past season in green and white, Richardson posted a better than 2-1 assist to turnover ratio. He has a knack for making good decisions in tight areas which will help him thrive as a smaller guard. Don’t be too alarmed by the 1.9 assists per game figure in college. The Spartans got to the Elite 8 thanks in large part to their collective defensive prowess and Richardson’s scoring ability. We should also note when discussing his decision-making in crowded areas and around the rim that Richardson was an exceptional free-throw shooter in college which will provide yet another way for his scoring ability to translate up.
As far as his individual defensive profile, Richardson’s foot speed allows him to hound opposing guards on the perimeter and make up for miscommunications and lapses a little quicker than the average guard. His strong basketball IQ and court vision also result in him rarely being out of position on defense.
Weaknesses
While it’s unfair to call his measurements a weakness, we should mention Richardson’s combine measurements which are the posted height and weight above, are considerably smaller than the 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds that Michigan State listed him at all season. It’s not necessarily a red flag, so much as it is a tidbit to keep in mind that he might play smaller than his listed frame in the NBA too.
However, his smaller profile does raise some concerns about his ceiling in the NBA. In the NBA there are plenty of guards who can match Richardson’s speed and will do so with more muscle on their own frames. This could result in opposing guards eyeing up Richardson in man-to-man situations and being more than willing to take the ball to the ball to the basket on him. A guard with equal speed and some more muscle would either be able to finish at the rim more easily when guarded by Richardson, or Richardson would require help in the paint from another defender. In a help scenario, a smarter guard would probably be able to find the open man either for an easy bucket down low or an open jump shot.
Concerns over Richardson’s frame are also prevalent on the offensive side of the floor as well. While his free throw shooting is a strength, he did not get to the line as much as he probably should have in college as the freshman guard only attempted a tick over three free throws per game. For a player that prides himself on his ability to score, that’s not enough free throw attempts. There’s two chief issues over these infrequent appearances at the charity stripe collegiately when it comes to Richardson’s NBA upside.
The first is the obvious one that even if he is willing to attack the basket, as the smallest guy on the floor, it’s much easier for opponents to play sound legal defense on him and force a missed field goal. The second one is either a byproduct of his size or could be a larger mental concern. What if Richardson is simply too passive and lacks confidence to go up strong around the rim? Is that something that could go away as he gets stronger or is it woven into how he plays the game?
To some extent, the strength coach and the rest of the staff on the team that drafts Richardson will be evaluating his mental toughness in correlation with how he develops physically.
Potential Fit with the Sixers
One of the nice things about having some depth in the backcourt already is that it would allow the Sixers to take their time in developing a guard selected in this year’s lottery. If the majority of the guard minutes are going to Maxey, McCain and Grimes anyway, that would make it pretty easy for the Sixers to draft Richardson, use him as a sparkplug off the bench, and allow him to get stronger and physically develop as a rookie. Should Philadelphia come out of the pre-draft process with a high grade on Richardson, one would assume that an ease-in year of sorts that allows him to physically develop would make it easier for Richardson to hit his ceiling and garner that high grade.
The problem with this line of thinking for some Sixers fans is that it is not maximizing the value of a lottery pick for 2025-26, a season in which Philly is hoping to return to contention. In the aforementioned reserve role Richardson would be playing as a rookie with the Sixers, he’s probably only playing about 20 minutes per game. He could be a nice microwave scorer in shorter spurts and come in to be a pest defensively on an opposing guard that’s getting hot, but how much of an impact are those things having on next season’s team?
While it’s not an immediate factor for consideration, it’s also important to note with guard prospects that we do not yet know the term of the next contract for Quentin Grimes. It’s possible that Grimes takes a shorter deal and Richardson’s rookie contract covers more years anyway. If Richardson was eased into the NBA for his first two seasons, and by his third season Grimes was gone, in theory he would be ready to play more minutes for the Sixers at that point in time when they became available.
Draft Projection
SB Nation Mock Draft: No. 11, Portland Trail Blazers
If this projection holds true for Richardson, it would complicate him landing in Philly. This spot in the lottery is probably too far back for the Sixers in any trade-down scenarios from third overall. However, 11th overall is most definitely too high to trade up from 35. So, if you’re someone that’s partial towards an immediate contributor and likes what the Sixers have in the backcourt right now, you can take solace in the fact that there may not be many pathways for Richardson to Philadelphia.