I, for one, take offense to Nick Richards being named NBA All-Nobody

Former Kentucky big man Nick Richards is somebody.

For starters, he was All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Defense during his breakout junior year in Lexington in 2019-20, and if not for Immanuel Quickley, he may have taken the SEC Player of the Year award that season. Junior Nick Richards™ averaged 14 points and eight rebounds; won two SEC Player of the Week awards; had six games with 20 points or more, including a 27-pointer; and led the Southeastern Conference in field goal percentage while ranking fourth nationally.

For all of those reasons and more, there was a campaign for his All-American candidacy.

Then when COVID robbed that Kentucky team of SEC and NCAA Tournament runs, Richards entered his name in the 2020 NBA Draft and was selected 42nd overall by the New Orleans Pelicans and traded to the Charlotte Hornets.

Already, he is somebody. I wasn’t drafted. Were you? We are the nobodies.

Once Richards began his NBA career, it took until his third year to really get going, similar to his time at Kentucky. Now a Junior Nick Richards™ in Charlotte, the former Cat averages 20 minutes a game off the Hornets’ bench with nine rebounds and six-and-a-half points per game.

Richards’ breakout season will likely earn him a nice pay increase when his three-year rookie deal is up at the end of this season, and if he stays on his current climb, he may land a regular starting role in the Association.

Seeing Richards’ ascension, theScore.com named Richards one of five players on its third annual All-Nobody Team, which recognizes under-the-radar NBA players who are “making a name for themselves” with their recent play.

Here’s a brief snippet from the reasoning behind his All-Nobody selection:

The 25-year-old Jamaican has logged more time (610 minutes) in 32 appearances this season than he did (430 minutes) in 68 combined games during his rookie and sophomore campaigns, and it’s easy to see why.

Richards, a violent dunker who wants to jam everything, understands hfooter’s opportunities in such scenarios should only increase now that LaMelo Ball is back in the lineup.

Richards rarely strays from the paint, and that suits the Hornets, as his top-five offensive rebound rate provides second-chance opportunities for a 30th-ranked Charlotte offense that needs all the help it can get.

theScore.com

So Richards’ spot on the All-Nobody Team is with good intentions and he deserves all of the love he can get for how he has played so far in 2022-23, but Junior Nick Richards™ is somebody and will continue to be somebody for many years to come.

Maybe call it the All-About-To-Get-Paid Team?

(He and that Kentucky team with Quickley and Maxey definitely would’ve won the 2020 NCAA title by the way. Stupid COVID.)