Tennessee guard Josh Richardson (1) goes for a dunk past East Tennessee State guard Jalen Riley (5) .KNOXVILLE — Josh Richardson spent enough time waiting in airports across the country during the past few weeks that waiting a little while longer on Thursday night came easy to the former Tennessee guard.
That did little to affect the reaction once the Miami Heat selected him 40th overall in the NBA draft.
Richardson watched the draft at home in Oklahoma City on Thursday day with his parents — who made it to every game of his college career with the Volunteers — his sister and two long-time friends.
The improvement Richardson made during his career at Tennessee and the impact he made to his draft stock during a whirlwind process that saw him zigzag from coast to coast for workouts with 16 different teams all came to fruition when he was picked.
“We just all were really excited,” he said during a conference call on Friday afternoon. “We kind of started freaking out. It’s settling in now.”