Person of Interest: New Toronto Raptors guard Malachi Richardson

Toronto Raptors cutting ties with Bruno Caboclo means they free up some wiggle room to add a buyout candidate, so Good Show has a great next move for Masai Ujiri.

Thursday morning everyone was expecting a quiet NBA Trade Deadline — both around the league and with the Toronto Raptors, specifically.

Turns out everyone was way, way off about the league-wide picture, but the Raptors held true to prediction, making just one small trade: flipping Bruno Caboclo to the Sacramento Kings for Malachi Richardson.

From the Raptors’ end, the move was made at least in part to free up some cap space this season and make them slightly bigger players in the post-deadline buyout market — they still have an open roster spot, after all. Also, not to pour cold water on this whole endeavour, it’s unlikely Richardson makes much of an NBA impact over the rest of the season.

Here’s some more info on the Raptors’ newest player:

Name: Malachi Richardson
Position: SG
Age: 22
Height: Six-foot-six | Weight: 205 pounds
Contract status: Is making $1,504,560 this year, and will make $1,569,360 in 2018–19

Say It With Me
It’s pronounced “MAL-uh-kai.” Just for the record.

Also note: Richardson has his first name tattooed on his left arm. It’s below a crown and above a Bible verse, Philippians 4:13.

Jersey Boy
Richardson was born and raised in New Jersey, and became a five-star recruit at Trenton Catholic Academy. He played in the 2015 McDonald’s All-American Game, but went scoreless in 14 minutes.

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One-and-done
Richardson spent one season at Syracuse in 2015–16. He finished second on the team in scoring with 13.4 points per game, and the Orange made it all the way to the Final Four and a matchup versus North Carolina. Syracuse lost, but Richardson put up 17 points in 37 minutes on 50-per cent shooting.

He entered the draft in mid-April following the tournament, and was picked 22nd overall by the Charlotte Hornets before being traded to the Kings for Marco Belinelli (who, coincidentally, was also on the trade block today but apparently didn’t get moved).

Largely Missing in Action
Richardson has split the last two years between the NBA and the G League, but — partly due to hamstring and ankle injuries — hasn’t made an impact in either. He’s played a total of 47 games in the NBA (averaging 3.5 points and 1.2 rebounds in 11 minutes per game) and 17 in the G League (averaging 17.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 32.9 minutes per game).

Mum on the Trade
Neither the Raptors nor Richardson have said anything official on the trade yet. But here’s one of Richardson’s most recent tweets, just for fun:

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