The Golden State Warriors have done it again, finding a diamond in the rough late in the NBA Draft. This time, by drafting Will Richard, they may actually change their fate in the championship race this season.
The Warriors picked up a pair of former national champions this summer, both cutting down the nets with the Florida Gators. One of them, veteran center Al Horford, understandably received the bulk of the attention. His shooting ability and defensive versatility from the center position will be invaluable to the Warriors.
It's worth not forgetting about the other former Gator, however. Will Richard was a starter on last year's Florida team that won the title and then entered the NBA Draft. Given his lack of a single elite skill, he slipped down draft boards. The league's trash was the Warriors' treasure, however, and they traded up a few slots to draft him with the 56th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft's second round.
The Warriors have found treasure at that part of the draft in recent years. Trayce Jackson-Davis was selected with the 57th pick in 2023; stretch-big Quenten Post was the 52nd pick in 2024. Both "TJD" and Post are viable NBA rotation players, which is not something you can usually say about players drafted that late.
With both Jackson-Davis and Post, however, they are position-locked at center. Every NBA team needs quality centers, and drafting those two players has been a real help to the Warriors. Yet when things get real in the playoffs, the Warriors are always going to be sliding to Draymond Green at center. Add in Al Horford and there's no need in the rotation for TJD and Post in the most important games. They will provide a lot of value over the course of the season, especially as Horford doesn't play back-to-backs, but they aren't changing the ceiling for this team.
Will Richard may change the Warriors' fate
Yet Will Richard might just do that. The 6'4" Richard has a 6'10" wingspan and has toggled between multiple positions during the preseason, playing everything from shooting guard to power forward. He is a solid defender just coming into the league, and he played a versatile offensive role for Florida last season that thus far is translating into the NBA.
Richard played 14 minutes in the Warriors' season opener, a rare feat for a rookie on a team with championship aspirations. He made both of his shots, played under control, and defended with energy.
In the Warriors' second game, another national television spectacle against the Denver Nuggets, Richard exploded. In an overtime showdown with a team expected to challenge for the Western Conference crown, Stephen Curry and the Warriors went toe-to-toe and ultimately prevailed. And they did so in large part because of Will Richard.
The rookie again was in the rotation and played a total of 17 minutes. He was making defensive rotations, he was flying in for contested rebounds, and he made a few on-time passes to set up his teammates. He has all of the vague but important adjectives that coaches love: he has verve, he has grit, he has passion.
Richard is almost certainly not the kind of player to become an unexpected star; he isn't Draymond Green. Perhaps he can be like Danny Green, however, who built himself into an indispensable role player on a number of title teams.
This matters because Richard plays on the wing, not at center. When the Warriors go to their very best rotation, with Green playing substantial minutes at center -- as he has to start the season -- Richard still matters. He can fill in the team's wing depth around the core stars.
His pathway to that relevancy may not be straight. Moses Moody is back and will take minutes in the rotation. Richard and the entire roster sans Curry struggled in the team's third game of the season, a blowout loss in Portland to the Trail Blazers. He is a second-round rookie and hasn't earned any formal standing in the rotation.
If he is truly the player he has appeared to be thus far, however -- a reliable and impactful glue guy -- there is a place for him on the Warriors and in the rotation. And when the chips are down, he might just change everything for the Warriors in the way that the very best role players always do.