Team: Indiana Pacers
Position: Point Guard
Card Year: 1993
Card Maker: Topps Stadium Club
Card Number: 106
I like this card for a few reasons - the first of which is that it features not only Richardson, but also Detlef Schrempf setting a pick for Richardson AND the card does not provide full season stats, but commemorates Richardson's first triple double in the NBA after three seasons with the Timberwolves before being traded to the Pacers. Given the emphasis on this accomplishment, I had to see - how many triple doubles did Richardson have in his career? The answer to this question is 2 - he had one more in the 94-95 season at which point he had been traded for a final time to the LA Clippers. I do not believe that performance also warranted its own card.
Richardson had an extremely successful college career at UCLA, and is 4th on the UCLA record list for most assists, and is the UCLA record holder for assists per game at 7.6, while earning All PAC-10 honors in three of his four college seasons. Despite his first two seasons overlapping with eventual Pacers teammate Reggie Miller's last two at UCLA, Richardson's passing abilities and Miller's scoring abilities were only able to win a PAC-10 tournament championship during Miller's last season in 1987 and were out in the second round of the NCAA tournament that same year. Richardson played in one more NCAA tournament in 1989, his senior season before being drafted by Minnesota Timberwolves in their first season as an NBA expansion team.
Richardson led the Timberwolves in assists, and made the NBA All Rookie team, but the Wolves finished 22-60 in their first season, with things not improving in the following two seasons, Richardson was traded along with Sam Mitchell to the Pacers for Michael Williams and one of my all time favorite athlete names - Chuck Person.
Upon being reunited with Reggie Miller in Indiana, Richardson and the Pacers made the NBA playoffs in the 92-93 season - that of this card - losing to the Knicks in the first round. They returned to the playoffs in the 93-94 season, making it all the way to the eastern conference finals, only to ultimately lose to the Knicks once again. In the February 1993 issue of SPORT Magazine, Richardson is quoted regarding his trade to the Pacers:
“Now that I’m in Indiana, when you go to a new organization and find out how classy it is compared to another, how one organization reeks of basketball direction, basketball executives, and the other one has none—one, two basketball people at the most—it’s [easy] to understand. If you ask me what’s the difference between Minnesota’s team and Indiana’s team, I’d say the commitment to winning.”
However, Richardson's time in Indiana ended with that second season as he was traded along with Malik Sealy and Erik Piatkowski to the LA Clippers for Greg Minor and previous card draw point guard, Mark Jackson. He remained in Los Angeles for the remainder of his career until his being waived by the Clippers in 1999.
Richardson's professional career was underwhelming relative to his college success. It seems that expectations for him were high upon being drafted by Minnesota, but was placed in an environment that was not conducive to getting the best out of him. Despite this, Richardson is still involved in basketball, assistant coaching at the California junior college, College of the Desert since 2017.
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