How Warriors rookie Will Richard became a key player

SAN FRANCISCO– It’s been a whirlwind last eight months for newcomer Will Richard. He led the Florida Gators to their third national championship in April. Two months later, The Golden State Warriors selected the 22-year-old shooting guard with the 56th pick in the NBA draft.

By November, on an unseasonably rainy night on the road in Sacramento, when veterans left the Warriors due to a mix of injuries and workload management, the second-round rookie scored 30 points in his first career start.

“It’s been a crazy eight months,” Richard told ClutchPoints. “From winning the national championship to getting into the pre-draft after that, going to summer league — it was non-stop, but it was fun.

Now, in December, Richard has carved out a role for himself in a Warriors team with high aspirations. Some nights he starts alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler, players he idolized growing up.

The second time around, he’s more than comfortable off the bench, and in the role of a Swiss Army knife that does everything he’s shown he’s capable of.

For most of the NBA world, he was a pleasant surprise.

But for Richard and those who have been around him to watch his rise to the top league in professional basketball, everything that has happened in the last nine months is the culmination of years upon years of hard work and dedication.

Work Ethic Foundation – Richard’s Georgia background

Richard’s rise to the NBA was anything but certain.

“I thought he definitely had the skills to get there, especially coming through college,” Woodward Academy head coach Anthony Thomas told ClutchPoints. “But if you asked me today, the first day I met him, I would have said, no. But it shows you how much work he’s put in.”

The work began at 6 a.m. sharp – in the cold, empty gym of Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia.

Five or six days each week from his junior year of high school through his senior year, Richard’s mornings were filled with rigorous shooting practice with Woodward assistant coach Rob Lawrence.

Thomas convinced Richard that they were necessary if he wanted to chase his NBA dreams and stand out from the thousands of other kids who shared similar aspirations.

“I just broke away,” Richard said. “I wasn’t really recruited in high school, so I knew little things like that would go a long way. … I felt a lot of confidence on the court just knowing how much work I put in to get to that point.”

The work Richard put in included dropping from 230 pounds to a slim 195.

Even with high metabolisms, most teenagers don’t lose just 35 pounds, even if they have a mother who supports them by cooking low-calorie meals of salmon and salad, as Helen Richard did for her son.

And along with developing Richard’s jump shot, Thomas has helped Richard build the intangibles that will help him eventually become a deadly off-ball cutter with a knack for reading the ebb and flow of defenses.

Thomas’ teachings and Richard’s dedication to the process culminated in Woodward’s “2-High-Go” special, a backdoor play to Richard lurking in the left corner that led to Richard’s first posterizer dunk against Oxford High.

Between thousands of hours of shooting practice, practice and school, there was always time to run to Pit Boss BBK, a mom-and-pop barbecue five minutes away from Woodward that would feature Richard, future NBA center Walker Kesseler and their teammates. There’s only so much dieting a 16-year-old can do.

Regardless, what drove him during those lucid and lonely mornings was internal. Thomas described the teenager as a “workaholic” when recalling his first impressions of Richard.

“He was just ultra competitive. To the point where I had to look at him and say, ‘Hey man, let’s be smart,'” Thomas laughed. “I’ve always said that I’d rather have to restrain someone than pull them out of them.”

Richard’s competitive fire helped make Woodward Academy profitable Georgia 4A State Championship in junior year. And as a senior, Richard earned first-team All-State honors as a senior and finished his high school career with over 1,000 points and 90 wins.

Finding Your Voice in the Everglades

Florida Gators assistant coach Carlin Hartman saw glimpses of Richard’s work ethic and competitiveness when he and Todd Golden began recruiting the 20-year-old after his first collegiate season at Belmont, a mid-major program in Nashville.

Of course, Richard’s 3-and-D abilities and 6-10 wingspan certainly appealed to the Gator coaches in their goal of returning Florida to the top of the collegiate mountaintop.

But they were also looking for individuals of high character who could help instill the winning culture that Golden and Hartman sought.

Richard, on the other hand, was looking for more than help rebuilding a higher-level program.

“I had a very transparent conversation with him about what I expected, what I wanted to come and do and how I wanted to use Florida to get to the next level,” Richard said. “(Hartman) kept it real, because he said he’d always have my back. He’d always be honest. And it certainly paid off.”

Hartman remained honest with Richard’s NBA ambitions. The kid was good. But he had to get well.

Hartman said Richard Florida needed to learn how to come off screens, add 45 cuts and basic cuts to his repertoire. He told Richard that he needed to distinguish between good twos and bad twos, avoid the temptation to gamble on the defensive pass, and master the pick-and-roll manipulation.

But the most important thing Hartman asked Richard to do was to use his voice.

“I’ve talked to his father (Al) about it a lot,” Hartman told ClutchPoints. “Al would always say Will was by nature, a very quiet kid. But I told Al, the way he takes it another step is by using his voice.”

Richard earned the respect of his teammates with his solid play and persistent work ethic.

When he spoke, the Florida locker room listened.

“He’s become the voice of our program, quite frankly, especially the last two years. He was the guy who talked in the huddle, he was the guy who broke up the crowds before the game.”

Richard’s influence went beyond rah-rah speeches.

He started 105 of a possible 108 games, averaging 11.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals on 46.2% shooting. And in the 2025 NCAA finals, Richard scored a team-high 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc to lead Florida to the national title.

In the process, Richard and Hartman’s relationship evolved from coach and player seeing eye to eye to a tight, family bond.

On draft night, Hartman and his son, Joseph, drove to Atlanta, Georgia, to join Richard and his family when the Warriors selected him 56th overall.

“Will is extremely unique and extremely special,” Hartman said. “The fact that he was a guy who stuck to the process, believed in the process, believed in us at Florida, believed in me and my mentorship with him. I’ll always be grateful for that and for him.”

“I call him often,” Richard laughed. “He’s literally like my uncle.”

Photo courtesy of Carlin Hartman

Overlooked by most of the NBA

Even with a national championship ring on his finger and a piece of netting in his pocket, Richard was not a highly sought after prospect.

Scouts pointed to Richard’s lack of advanced creation skills, his somewhat average physicality — 6-foot-3, 200 pounds doesn’t turn eyeballs when you’re not a high-flyer — relative to the NBA.

Richard was 22, which is only really old if you’re entering the NBA draft, is also a factor.

Richard was aware that the NBA prefers to draft younger prospects because of their potential. But Richard was quick to point out how all the things Hartman and Florida made him learn helped him jump headfirst into the NBA.

“I feel like those four years at Florida helped me with my experience. I feel like it helped me adjust a lot quicker than if I was an 18-year-old freshman or something like that. So I don’t need to talk to guys that are being recruited that are younger than me. … I know my journey is different than everybody else’s, so I’m happy with how it went.”

Judging age and potential against experience and ceiling has always been a thing in the NBA. It will likely remain so long after Richard, no matter how high he raises the ceiling.

But Hartman pointed to his former player in Austin Reaves, a guy who went undrafted but is now on the verge of becoming an All-Star this season with the Los Angeles Lakers, as an example in his favor.

“Austin was the same,” Hartman said. “Austin was a guy who was involved in the game because he played four years in college. Those guys are really, really hardworking.”

Richard’s path also mirrors that of his Warrior vet, Draymond Green, another second-round success story. Like Richard, Green was also a 22-year-old from a winning program when he fell to the 35th pick in 2012. And right now, Richard’s playing with the same high motor of Green has made waves with the quarterback when he’s unproven.

“He’s playing hard right now, and that’s a skill,” Stephen Curry said of Richard in the first week of the season. “I just love the way he approaches the game with his competitiveness, his energy. You can tell he cares. It’s a skill set that will take you a long way.”

Reflecting on my journey

Despite Richard’s many early successes, he understands the ephemeral nature of the league. In a profession defined by results and winning, things move quickly in the NBA.

The results so far have been positive through 22 games. Richard is 11th in scoring among rookies (8.3 ppg), fourth in field goal percentage (53.2%) and fifth in 3-point percentage (38.5%). Whether he will maintain those numbers is the next step in his basketball journey.

Coach Steve Kerr is inclined to believe he can. After the Warriors’ 114-83 win over the Pacers in early November, in which he scored 15 points and posted a +19 plus/minus, Kerr made it clear that Richard will be a key player moving forward this season.

“(Assistant coach) Ron Adams says it all the time. It’s a show-me league,” Kerr he said in mid-October. “That means as soon as you get your chance, you better show me. And Will 100% showed me and showed Ron and showed our whole staff that he can play.”

Richard is not satisfied with what he has done so far, and remains proactive in asking his vets numerous questions.

But nothing about the speed and intensity of the NBA business will ever make Richard shy away from expressing his gratitude to Thomas, Hartman and the people who have helped him get to this point in his career.

“(I’m) keeping them informed,” Richard said with a smile. “I mean, they’re some of my biggest supporters. I stay in touch with them, see how things are going in Florida and Woodward. And I just say thank you because they’ve been a big part of my journey.”