2020-21 Fantasy Basketball Sleeper - Josh Richardson

'Tis the season to be drafting / Fa la la la la, la la la la"

With fantasy drafts in full swing, all of us are doing our final preparations for that glorious draft night! Spreadsheets open, two notebooks and four pens in front 0f me, I've got another monitor linked up with my laptop. I'm ready, bring it on!

Just like every year, some players are ranked lower than expected, and fantasy GMs should be on the prowl! Bargains like these can be the decisive factor when it comes to winning the whole thing so make sure you take full advantage of every opportunity that presents itself! Here is my take on one of them: Dallas Mavericks guard Josh Richardson.

Josh Richardson Fantasy Basketball Outlook

Josh Richardson had a breakout year with the Miami Heat back in 2018-19 when he averaged 16.6 PTS on 41.2 FG% and 86.1 FT%, with 2.2 3PM, 3.6 REB, 4.1 AST, 1.1 STL, 0.5 BLK, and 1.5 TO in just under 35 minutes per game. And just when everybody expected him to make another step forward, both in real life and in fantasy, he was shipped out to the 76ers in the Jimmy Butler trade.

He spent last season playing fourth, even fifth fiddle to Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and even Al Horford. This didn't help him, but he still managed to make the most out of his role averaging 13.7 points on 43.0% from the field, 80.9% from the charity stripe, 3.2 boards, 2.9 dimes, 0.9 steals, 0.7 blocks and 1.9 turnovers in almost 31 minutes a night. He was even better in the four playoff games with 16.8 points in 36 minutes - but let's not confuse playoffs with the regular season.

JRich is now in Dallas and is projected to be the starter in the backcourt duo with Doncic. With Luka drawing so much attention from opposition defenses, Josh could be in for 3+ threes a night if he gets his groove going with the Mavs.

Furthermore, he has emphasized that he is prepared to pull both his and Luka's weight on the defensive end of the floor, which could result in some stock output. He has averaged 1.5 steals with 0.9 blocks in 81 games back in 2017-18 so we know what he is capable of in that department.

If he locks down the starting role in Dallas, and the competition is not too hard to be completely honest, he could be back to his Miami numbers in no time which would guarantee a top-100 finish at the very least. Richardson is currently ranked at 122 by Yahoo and could be a steal, especially for those teams that don't care about FG% too much.

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