Cannonballing to the Magic at 25, a prospect they initially worked out for consideration at 16 in Jase Richardson will follow his father’s footsteps and play professional basketball in The City Beautiful.
The Orlando Magic make another big off-season splash, this time in the draft.
What are scouts saying about the pick?
Ben Pfeifer ”I think that was probably the best pick of the draft, between value and fit.”
Jonathan Givony “Fun pick for the Magic adding shooting, passing and defense, while not needing plays called for him.” Jacob Myers "You can tell he's the son of a 2x NBA Dunk Contest Champ. He's so graceful the way he covers the ground, attacks very smooth, really fluid athlete."
Parker Fleming “This was my favorite player/team fit in the draft. Jase Richardson is going to space the floor for their Franz-Paolo-Bane-Suggs core. Bane and Suggs can take the keys to the offense while Jase spaces the floor. He addresses a significant need with outside shooting (45.7% on catch-and-shoot 3’s) – while serving as a connective playmaker, steady defender, and reliable play-finisher. Wouldn't shock me if we see a McCain-esque jump.”
Anonymous Scout “I had Jase ranked #4 overall. Him landing in Orlando only makes me more confident putting him that high. The scalability and second side stuff he can do from day one is so good next to their jumbo playmakers.
Small guard so he’s always gonna be a mismatch defensively, but I think he’s got the length and strength to guard smaller matchups; Orlando defensive depth really makes the fit synergistic.”
While Jase may have slipped in the draft due to height, he fits in with Orlando’s history of prospects with long wingspans, possessing a Wingspan to Height Plus Minus of +5.5 inches; meaning he’s arms are nearly half a foot longer than he is tall!
Here’s an excerpt from the Swish Theory 2025 NBA Draft Guide, which happens to rank Jase Richardson to Orlando as the #1 Best Draft Fit of any team and player:
Despite measuring as the third shortest player barefoot (6’0.5”) in the 2025 NBA Draft, Jase Richardson is one of the most complete offensive prospects this year. Richardson is the epitome of being malleable on the offensive end, able to play on and off the ball with his combination of touch, processing and scoring excellence.
Jase Richardson saw his usage rise through his college season at MSU, primarily operating as an off-ball scorer, but he consistently showcased his ability to adapt to different roles. While his shooting numbers may pop off the page – 47.5% on off-the-dribble 2s, 41.2% on 3-point attempts, 83.6% from the line – what Richardson truly excels at is being a driver, hurting defenses with his acceleration and touch inside the arc.
Richardson’s first step is solid, but he truly stands out with his ability to accelerate through his second and third strides while using shar–p angles to create separation. His ankle flexibility and footwork allow him to stay tight on drives, reducing the need to veer away from the rim. Regardless of his stature, his controlled acceleration and 6’6” wingspan enable him to find unique finishing angles at the rim. When he is cut off on drives, he is fantastic at using his counters, whether that’s a pull-up middy, floater, or grifting to get to the free throw line. The immense scoring pressure he puts on a defense shows up in his 41.8% free throw rate (FTR).
On occasion, Richardson can be myopic with his scoring which could be a product of not being able to see over defenses, but in general he does a good job reading help defenders and consistently makes the right pass to find open teammates.
His feel also shows up off the ball, often pressuring the defense with unstructured cuts and constant relocation to open up the floor for his teammates.
There has been a common question of whether Jase Richardson can truly play the point guard position, especially with his margins as a smaller player, high assisted rates inside the arc and a 14.4 assist percentage. This stems largely from Richardson’s role as a scorer and the overall structure of MSU’s offense. MSU used a lot of Weave DHO and Zoom variations, which meant Richardson was often getting assisted on possessions even though on tape he was creating most of these drives once he received the hand off. Additionally, MSU was one of the worst teams in the nation at taking and making 3-point shots, which actively meant many of Richardson’s perimeter passes would not translate to the box score.
Richardson needs to improve his volume as an interior passer as he continues to develop, especially passing over the top of defenses. Since he is so adept at taking floaters inside the arc, being able to mask floater attempts as lobs would be a great wrinkle to add to Richardson’s offensive utility. With his quick processing, sharp passing deliveries, and low turnover rate (9.9 TO%), Richardson shows real potential to scale up as a table-setter at the next level.
The defense will be an issue as a smaller player, but Richardson does have the lateral speed, strength, and length to take on smaller matchups. He needs to improve on his closeout footwork as well. At the next level, he could be more of an event creator, as this is another area MSU suppressed him. MSU was the second-best team at limiting opposing 3-point efficiency, a result of the defense asking players to stay attached to their matchups and gamble less in passing lanes.
All in all, Jase Richardson is one of the better offensive bets in this year’s draft, but his lack of size and defensive limitations affect his margins, making him a riskier proposition for NBA teams.
2023 Sunshine Classic Scouting Notes on Jase Richardson @ Montverde
Do you remember where you were when the sons of JRich and Carlos Boozer (Jase and Cayden) threw down this NBA STREET GAME-BREAKING DOUBLE ALLEY-OOP?!
I do. I was recording this video in the stands, enjoying the marquee matchup with my dad, as the players’ dads sat courtside right in front of us. Today was for the dads!
Jase Richardson teamed up with the Boozer twins and his brother Jaxon on Columbus (Miami, FL) to face off against an all-time great Montverde team in an epic matchup vs. Cooper Flagg, Asa Newell, Derik Queen, Liam McNeeley, Rob Wright, and Curtis Givens.
Jase was such a scoring threat, Montverde opted to take him out entirely by throwing their best defender, the much bigger and longer Cooper Flagg, right up in Jase’s face all game long. Richardson struggled throughout due to this, yet still showed flashes.
His shooting touch on tough shotmaking floaters and incredible body & ball control movement around the court really jumped out that night, and remain impressive traits to this day.
vs. Montverde 9 PTS 3 AST / 4 TO 1 STL 4/6 FG (27 MIN)
Like his pops used to do, Jase Richardson flashes bouncy rim-rocking hops and soft shooting touch with a bucket-getting swagger, swishing high-degree-of-difficulty shots from a left-leaning elbow pull-up middy to a fadeaway AND1 FLOATA.
Jase Richardson flashing smooth ball skills, especially as a lefty bucket-getter with soft touch tough shotmaking talent, impressed in feel for the game and as a a walking NBA Jam highlight machine, all similar traits to his father, the OG J Rich.
Montverde’s coaching staff matched up Cooper against Jase Richardson in the Columbus game, a huge length mismatch favoring Flagg, which locked up Richardson most of the night. Fans could see Jase visibly frustrated with Flagg’s go-go gadget arms swarming every move, but the opposing team making this part of their gameplan is out of respect for Richardson’s threat of sparkplug scoring and smooth shooting touch, even if it dares top prospect Cam Boozer to beat them.
In an off-night from deep, Jase did his damage in the midrange and the paint, running off handoffs and screens looking to put the ball in the net.
Showing ball control, body control, vision and shooting touch on the driving spinning AND1 FLOATA, the elbow left-fading pull-up middy (off the stutter rip drive and kick from Cam Boozer), spinning into swishing runners, drawing fouls on bump-and-shoot drives, hitting teammates after drawing extra defenders, reveals scoring creator potential.
Michigan State
Playstyle, Volume, Efficiency, Development
A rather excellent rated scorer across the board, Jase’s most efficient and highest volume halfcourt playtypes at Michigan State are P&R, Off Screen, and Spot Ups. We’ll also break down the Handoffs Jase ran, since that is such a prevelant playtype on his new NBA team.
Pick-and-Roll (including passes)
Jase shows incredible fundamental footwork, body control balance, and pick-and-roll patience, able to subtly get to the spots he wants, when he wants to get there.
At times he’ll pull a move from Chris Paul by putting a defender in jail, decelerating on a dime, and moonwalking into an elbow middy, one of Jase’s hot spots.
Other times, he might remind Magic fans of Markelle Fultz on the fast break, dropping transition 3pt dumpoff passes with effective flare.
This gives Orlando a bonafide natural point guard option to lean on at times, who projects to have few to no holes in his game; a ready made role player connector who can hold his own defensively, hit the open three, make quick team-first reads on and off the ball, *and* initiate some halfcourt offense with scoring gravity.
Richardson ran 123 pick-and-rolls at Michigan State, including every time he shot or passed out of it, creating 1.05 PPP on average for his offense while ranking in the 86th percentile among all NCAA P&R Ball-Handlers, an excelling rating by Synergy.
His slightly lower 3P% in this playtype (22/30 37% 3P%) is likely lower due to the degree of difficulty of off-the-dribble jumpers that come with running pick-and-rolls, yet remains impressive nonetheless since that is still a high efficiency on hard shots.
As just a scorer in P&R, Jase also rated excellently at 1.1 PPP, in the 95th percentile.
Jase popped off for 20+ PTS six times in his freshman season, including a career-high against Oregon, where he scored 29 PTS shooting 9/13 FG - 3/6 3P - 8/9 FT, mostly getting buckets out of pick-and-rolls featured in the video below.
Even in the shots missed, Jase still creates space using his patience, footwork, balance.
Most of the shots missed are the same looks Jase gets on made attempts – a promising sign for his shot selection and decision making. Some of the shots are rather tough versions of the shots he tends to take, which could be an area to improve when to attack the trees and when to swing to another branch.
Richardson dished out many potential assists and sweet dimes that did not result in baskets that will translate to assists with better play-finishers at the next level.
Off Screens
Flare screens to create open off-ball movement catch-and-shoot jumpers are Jase Rich’s friend.
Iverson screens, stagger screens, screen the screener; any screens that help Jase get wide open can lead to dramatically better results and shooting efficiency.
Really any Off Screen sets that catch defenders off guard and/or make Jase’s initial defender run through a gauntlet of picks to force multiple decisions from the opposing team’s defense all at once will help create the biggest advantage and the most space for Jace to operate.
Richardson’s 1.18 PPP on 33 Off Screen possessions rated in the 82nd percentile, a very good rating from Synergy.
Jase’s best 3P% of any playtype came in these Off Screen sets: 6/7 3P; Richardson’s highest volume 3PA came in Spot Up sets: 27/36 3PA for 43% 3P%.
This gives Orlando another floor-spacing guard option alongside Bane and Suggs, someone who could potentially develop into another high-volume 3pt sniper on and off the ball, too.
Other decisions besides continuing to kick can be hit or miss. Sometimes he draws a foul on drives. Sometimes Jase converts a tough floater. However, most of the movement jumpers did not go in very often in this playtype.
Richardson looks most comfortable when he’s running off two screens or a flare screen to the right wing: five of his six made threes in this off screen playtype over his *entire freshman season at Michigan State* came from that right wing hot spot:
Drives
Blending all of these playtypes gives Jase’s freedom to experiment on the ball, using his effective flare to lower his shoulder, weave through defenders, maneuver in and out of traffic with ease, showing off a masterful combination of body and ball control along with an impressive understanding of the game.
Jase joins a long list of Orlando Magicians who thrive on fast breaks and driving into the paint; especially since this team wreaks so much havoc defensively, they’re forcing turnovers left and right to create easy-scoring efficient downhill opportunities.
In transition, Jase scored 1.3 PPP on 69 possessions, rating in the 86th percentile, another excellent rating via Synergy.
Overall, Jase scored 1.05 PPP on 75 Drives, favoring his strong hand (left side) by almost twice the volume (45 Drives Left vs. 26 Drives Right), and scoring slightly more efficiently driving left. (18/33 FG on 54.5% FG% on Drives Left vs. 10/20 FG on 50% on Drives Right)
However, Jase still ended up creating nearly the same exact efficiency for his team driving either direction (1.13 PPP Drives Left vs. 1.12 PPP on Drives Right)
Will his size prevent him from consistently attacking the basket? Perhaps. But, on his side is his creativity, nifty handles, change of pace, and outstanding touch with his left hand when he does make it to the basket. In the restricted area (within 4 ½ feet of the hoop), Richardson shot 75.4 percent (49-of-65).
He regularly beat his man off the dribble when they closed out on him and was able to get to his dominant left hand (finishing with a layup or a floater). Finishing with his right hand is something he didn’t do much with the Spartans, so that is an area for him to improve.
Despite his size, Jase is not afraid to draw contact. In a game against Oregon in the Big Ten Tournament, he attempted 10 free throws and for the season had a 41.8 percent free throw rate.
Handoffs
Jase averaged 0.95 PPP on a small sample of just 21 Handoffs at Michigan State, rating in a good 64th percentile, via synergy.
The lowest usage and efficiency of these four playtypes, Richardson tried a lot of tough shots out of these sets that missed: stepback threes, pull-up middies, runners.
While these shots are within his game, the decision-making of when to break out the tough shot takin ‘n’ makin’ skills vs. when to drive and kick can make a big difference in winning impact, a process that hopefully improve with more reps.
Richardson was most effective off DHOs when he attacked the rack.
Next to strong screeners like Goga, Wendell, Mo Wagner, Paolo, Isaac, Penda, he’ll be expected to do just that:
penetrate the paint; bend the defense; and either score, draw foul, or kick.
Orlando’s offense tends to run a lot of handoffs; with the addition of Bane and recovery of Suggs, that trend could continue.
Richardson may want to focus on developing handoff movement and shooting skills, as that may be a cheat code to more playing time with this team. Defensive intensity, making good quick decisions with and without the ball, is another.
Jase made one floater and one pull-up jumper out of all his Handoffs this season; the rest of his points and fouls drawn came off hard-nosed drives into the forest.
With how Jase lowers his shoulders, moves his hips, controls the ball and his body, his movement on the ball looks as smooth as butter.
Development
Jase Richardson is great at many things on the basketball court.
NCAA ranks via cbbdata:
88th percentile in TS% (62.4%) 88th percentile at RIM% (69%) 71st percentile in MID% (40.7%) 78th percentille in FT% (83.6%)
96th percentile in Creation TOV% (6.3%)
74th percentile in Offensive BPM (+5.8) 98th percentile in Defensive BPM (+4.3) 82nd percentile in BLK% (1.4%)
Like every player, though, one can always find areas to improve.
Defense requires strength, mobility, and effort. Richardson plays tough despite the 6’ft flat measurement at the combine; he may get hunted on defense, but not only does he play with the intensity and fire one needs to hold your own as an undersized guard in the NBA, but he couldn’t ask for a much better situation, given the elite defensive roster full of lengthy, instinctual, communicative team-first defenders flanking him.
Sometimes, Richardson will force a pass into a crowded area, or force a tough shot when passing out may be better. With Jase already being a high feel smart player, he’ll surely improve as a decision maker with more reps, but those questionable decisions will be the first hurdle to overcome in becoming a reliable, consistent role player.
Thankfully, Orlando should be relatively healthy at full strength to start the season, so Richardon won’t be overtasked in his role, if he plays at all. Being a rookie on a hopeful contender could mean some time in the g-league, honing one’s craft where more usage, touches, playing time is available. Even fighting for the 4th guard spot in the rotation will be a challenge, given Orlando’s newfound depth at the position.
Spot Ups
This playtype may be the biggest reason Orlando targeted Jase on the offensive end; the ability to attack closeouts off the advantages created by the likes of big brawling point-forwards Franz, Paolo, Black barreling into the lane.
Attacking closeouts requires the mere threat of the 3pt shot; a confident shooter on high volume can stretch the floor just as much if not more than a more efficient shooter on lesser volume.
Roshan Potluri wrote an in-depth piece about the value of players who can attack closeouts with “Closeout Creation” abilities on the Swish Theory site, which features both of Orlando’s eventual 2025 NBA Draft picks (Jase Richardson and Noah Penda)
This is no coincidence; Orlando targeted two rookies who bring valuable skills to any team rotation: the ability to attack closeouts, to finish plays off the creation of others, to take the advantage already created and punish the defense for it.
The most obvious way to capitalize on a semi-tilted defense is speed: a player using their first step and acceleration to widen the gap in the offensive advantage. Jase Richardson is the perfect example of a guard who can do this, beating defenses off-the-catch with his speed in a low-usage role for Michigan State this year. Going back to AAU and his senior year of high school, Jase has had a lot of experience being in spot-up situations – his second most used offensive play type in both contexts.
His first step is good, but Richardson excels at accelerating and using sharper driving angles to create separation. His ankles and feet can take sharper angles on drives, reducing how much he curls away from the rim, and enabling tighter, shorter drive paths. Accentuated by the acceleration in his second and third steps, Richardson capitalizes on these traits to explode into his last stride on finishing attempts at the rim or get to the middle of the floor to hurt the defense with his touch.
He’s also adept at recognizing where the help is coming from and making the pass to the open man off of these drives. While defenders do give him attention from the perimeter, Richardson’s volume and efficiency as a 3-PT shooter have not been extremely high in the past. He’s shot 30% from the perimeter on a 30% three-point-rate between 17U AAU and his senior year of high school, however, it looks like Richardson’s 3-point shot is on the uptick with a three-point rate of 34.6% and 50% in a small sample of games (9 games) for Michigan State so far. As this shot improvement sustains, defenses will have to guard him tighter from the perimeter, enabling Richardson to leverage his burst even further on off-the-catch drives.
Richardson’s burst is best on display when he takes the pass and takes off towards the rim, or when he already has a head of steam off ball stampeding towards the paint.
Jase’s ever-moving relocation skills keeps him open of ball, even after initiating a set, and his catch-and-shoot 3pt jump shot form is clean, injecting another much needed floor-spacer into Orlando’s offense. (Thank you, Jeff Weltman and Anthony Parker!)
At the Maui Invitational, Jase scored 11 points in Spot Up situations, featuring 4 tough shots attacking the paint and 1 C&S 3pt jumper, seen below:
Richardson’s first opportunities on the Magic will likely be as a Spot Up threat off Orlando’s many creators, to see how he responds to the advantages created by others.
If the 3ball, drives, kicks, foul-draws, and general team-first decision-making pop out, Jase’s playing time will only rise.
“If you are 6’0”, 6’1” and under, unless you are Trae Young, you need to be picking up full court, you gotta be a problem on defense, causing problems, whether you know how to guard or not, just fight, and you gotta be able to shoot the three.
Everything else inbetween, is inbetween, whether you got a floater, you can finish, or whatever.
Lucky for Orlando, Jase Richardson’s shooting and spot up collegiate stats look like…
84% FT% on 122 Total FTA 41% 3P% on 114 Total 3PA 36% 3P% on 4 3PA vs. Top 50 opponents
93rd percentile in Spot Up PPP (1.2 PPP) 95th percentile in Catch-and-Shoot PPP (1.3 PPP)
1.38 PPP on 55 No Dribble Jumper poss 1.23 PPP on 40 Drives Left out of Spot Up poss 1.01 PPP on 21 Drives Right out of Spot Up poss
All of these numbers are promising indicators for Richardson’s future shooting development, where Jase can build on his promising ratings, and to round out his game to help keep defenses honest.
Anytime Jase drives to about ten feet deep, pumpfakes, finds his footing and pivots until he’s open, he normally swishes the shot, revealing patience, fundamentals, touch.
Here’s every Jase Richardson made field goal out of Spot Up situations at Michigan State this season; primarily catch-and-shoot threes, drives to the rack, and tough shotmaking counters like stepback triples, turnaround midrange fadeaways, pull-up middies that are only tough shots for those who can’t make them consistently.
Overall
Ranking Top-10 in BPM (+10.0 BPM) in the entire country, AND doing so as a freshman, Jase Richardson’s impact metrics jump off the page, and only trail big men among draft prospects. (Flagg, Broome, Kalkbrenner, and Murray-Boyles)
Ranking 4th in 3P% (41.2%), 22nd in TS% (62.4%), and 28th in FT% (83.6%) makes Jase one of the best shooting and scoring bets among NCAA draft picks.
Review his overall scoring numbers via Synergy, revealing efficiency across the board.
Scoring
1.3 PPP Overall on 441 Poss + Assists (Scoring Creator) (93rd) 1.2 PPP Overall on 378 Total Scoring poss (96th) 1.3 PPP in 69 poss - Transition (86th) 1.12 PPP in 309 poss - Half Court (95th) 1.2 PPP on 257 poss - against Man (94th) 1.2 PPP on 52 poss - against Zone (83rd) 1.1 PPP on 77 poss - After Time Outs (80th)
46% on 81 C&S 3PA 29% on 34 Pull-Up 3PA 35% on 37 Runners 69% on 93 Layups 5 Dunks Made
Jase perfectly threads the ideal draft pick needle for Orlando:
An all-around rotation-level player who can help contribute quickly with few to zero holes in his game with the potential upside to develop into another two-way team-first high-level impact D&3 connector (or better) player on a team already considered a rising contender.
One of the only first round picks not invited to the green room, here’s what Jase had to say about being drafted by the Orlando Magic at 25, via Cody Taylor:
“It was a surreal feeling, being at home having all of my family, friends and close ones around me, it was really special.
Just having my name called and going to a team my dad used to play for himself is a blessing.”
Welcome to Orlando, J-Rich Jr.!
Contributing to a contender on the rise in the heart of Central Florida, awaits.
Encouraging read. If his play transfers, then this is really a home run pick. His style compliments our other players so well. Him/Jalen/AB/Bane should be a great guard rotation in year 2/3.
Encouraging read. If his play transfers, then this is really a home run pick. His style compliments our other players so well. Him/Jalen/AB/Bane should be a great guard rotation in year 2/3.