22. Malachi Richardson, Charlotte Hornets
Another surprise early entrant in the 2016 NBA Draft, Malachi Richardson rode the momentum of his stellar 2016 NCAA Tournament performance during the Syracuse Orange’s unlikely run to the Final Four into a first-round selection by the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets then traded Richardson to the Sacramento Kings — who were very active on the night — in exchange for Marco Belinelli. Richardson was a five-star recruit upon signing with Syracuse but ran hot and cold during his freshman season. It just so happened that he finished his career with the Orange hot.
Richardson ended up being the second of three first-round picks the Kings brought in during the 2016 NBA Draft. Sacramento was clearly taking as many bites of the apple as they could. With the eventual deal of DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings would find themselves with a whole lot of inexperienced players trying to take over as the face of the franchise.
However, Richardson’s face wasn’t one that you would have linked to the franchise following his rookie season. Richardson played 22 games his first season and spent the bulk of his time in the G-League with the Reno Bighorns. The hot three-point shooting at Syracuse proved to be nothing more than a flash in the pan as he shot 28.6 percent from deep in his first NBA season.
Halfway through his second season, Richardson was moved to the Toronto Raptors for Bruno Caboclo. However, he wouldn’t catch on in Canada either. Once again, Richardson saw most of his playing time during stints in the G-League, this time with Raptors 905. The Raptors would trade Richardson to the Philadelphia 76ers this past February and he was immediately waived by the Sixers. He found his way back to the G-League when he was picked up by the Canton Charge in mid-March where he remains.