Payne went to the Atlanta Hawks with the 15th pick of the 2014 NBA draft, which at the time was coach Tom Izzo’s first first-round pick since Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager in 2006 and his highest-drafted player since Jason Richardson went fifth overall in 2001. Payne was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves during his rookie season and played 107 NBA games over three seasons, finishing with five games in 2017-18 after signing with the Orlando Magic, and averaging 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 13.1 minutes per game.
Jason Richardson Rumors
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Jason Richardson
Position: -
Born: 01/20/81
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Earnings: $105,798,207 ($148,052,083*)
Born: 01/20/81
Height: 6-6 / 1.98
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Earnings: $105,798,207 ($148,052,083*)
A former NBA Slam Dunk Champion is giving back to our community tonight. Jason Richardson is hosting a basketball clinic for Special Olympics Nevada.
Nate Robinson, Jason Richardson, Larry Sanders to Big 3 League
Chris Haynes: BIG3 NEWS: Former NBA players Nate Robinson, Jason Richardson and Larry Sanders are returning to @TheBig3 for 2021 season and all will play for Tri-State, sources tell @YahooSports.
Jason Richardson: That team was probably one of the closest teams that I was on. I think the next-closest team where the guys really got along was my Phoenix team in 2010. But that We Believe team was so special because, like I said, nobody gave us a chance. At the time, I was coming off an injury and a lot of people were saying that I was overpaid and wasn’t worth it. You had Stephen Jackson coming off of the brawl, the Malice at the Palace. With Baron Davis, they said he was injury-prone. Al Harrington, same thing. Matt Barnes was viewed as this castaway, a “thug” that wasn’t really a basketball player. We all had to band together and fight for each other. We were trying to prove that we could do this, especially with the way we played. We were small, we were in your face, we shot a lot of threes, but we also played defense. It was incredible. I just remember all of the times we were together. The first time we were on the plane and we knew that we were all back healthy; Baron had finally come back and was healthy. We played Detroit and I think we beat Detroit by, like, 30 points. [Editor’s note: It was 18 points]. And we all made a pact right then and there on the airplane that we were going to do this for each other and we were going to make the playoffs.
Jason Richardson: Yeah, I think I was a little bit underrated. I feel like I should have made the All-Star team a few times. But the game has changed now; it’s different. Because in my era, even if you averaged 20 points, if you didn’t win, it didn’t matter. I understood that part of it. I had a lot of losing years during those times, so people thought it was just “number chasing.” But if you look at it now, there’s a lot of guys who are averaging a ton of points and their team isn’t doing good, but they still get the accolades and they are on the All-Star teams and stuff like that. I think back in my time, it was more team-oriented and all about, “What are you doing to help your team win games?” And so I see the different eras and I understand how the game has changed in that respect.
