Nick Richards must be more Suns’ long-term piece than short-term solution
Jan 15, 2025, 4:19 PM | Updated: 4:24 pm

Nick Richards #4 of the Charlotte Hornets looks on against the Houston Rockets during the first half at Toyota Center on October 23, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
It is too little and it is too late but the Phoenix Suns filled a need on Wednesday, acquiring Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards in exchange for wing Josh Okogie and three second-round picks, with Denver’s 2025-second round pick coming back to Phoenix via Charlotte, per Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro.
Richards, 27, is under contract for a non-guaranteed $5 million next season before becoming a free agent in the summer of 2026. Phoenix can negotiate a contract extension with him this upcoming offseason.
This is a short-term move for a team that is not a short-term move away from getting to where it needs to be — contender status. That speaks to a front office operating with a certain level of either delusion or elevated mindset of, “Well, we’re already too deep in a hole we can’t get out of, so why the hell not still go for it?”
Whittling the barren asset chest down to one second-round pick that will land in the back half of the second round and one unprotected first-round pick in 2031 suggests that there is no “blow it up” scenario coming before the trade deadline despite everything on the court indicating that is the direction to go.
There could be even more moves to come to try and take further steps forward. All reporting links to a troublesome desire to land Jimmy Butler, which would be wholly illogical, as previously covered.
The move is more about if Richards is a long-term piece. While there is obvious appeal he brings, that’s more of a wait-and-see approach.
What Nick Richards brings to the Phoenix Suns
The No. 42 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Richards spent his first two seasons hardly playing before getting real playing time as the third-string 5 behind current Suns center Mason Plumlee and current Suns lunch money owner Mark Williams. Plumlee moved on last year, and with Williams only playing in 14 games, Richards got to start in 51 of ’em. He had held a similar backup role this season.
When Charlotte was in town on Sunday, head coach Charles Lee spoke highly of how much the fifth-year big has grown.
“Nick is another guy that I think has thrived with more minutes and more opportunities. … For him early on in the year, he got to start and was playing a ton of minutes and was finishing games for us and I think that all of those reps have kind of helped him,” Lee said.
Lee cited “a physicality to help us finish possessions,” something the Suns direly need after another pitiful rebounding performance in Tuesday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks. That marked the third game the Suns have allowed at least 20 offensive rebounds, the most in the NBA, and all those contests were played over an eight-day period, per Stathead.
Richards is a good interior presence. His grades for rim finishing, block percentage, offensive rebounding percentage and defensive rebounding percentage are all good to great, per Cleaning the Glass.
His role on offense is a rim runner and finisher. He’s taken over 80% of his career shots around the basket, and converts at around a 70% clip, a very good return. Phoenix’s rim frequency is on pace for historic lows and is dead last in the league. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and the Suns’ high-level amount of shooting will give him space to bump that frequency up a bit.
If a big wants to help off Richards when he screens or drifts near the basket, he will take care of the rest from there if you get him the ball. The Suns will hope the days are gone of watching centers like Jusuf Nurkic and Plumlee turn down opportunities to finish.
Lee cited great growth for Richards in “the seams,” meaning those short roll situations around the dotted circle when he has to make a decision with the ball. That’s where Nurkic, Plumlee and rookie Oso Ighodaro all have a high basketball IQ, so it’ll be important for Richards to further pick up on that.
When his initial action is done, Richards will plant himself under the basket to seal for drivers and/or grab a potential miss.
It’s a very simple role he should be a positive with given the athlete he is. Except Richards has to take care of the ball to achieve that. Yes, I am sorry Suns fans, but he struggles with turnovers. Richards’ turnover percentage this year is at 18.4%, a shade below Nurkic’s number from last season of 18.2% and right around Plumlee’s 18.9% this season.
The areas they come in speak to a guy still trying to figure some things out, which is not what you want to hear for a 27-year-old. It’s moving screens, traveling and a lot of instances where he is susceptible to losing control of the ball. Richards will try the occasional slick pass, and while his assist percentage has more than doubled from last year, it’s still at a below average 10.2% and he’s not out there to be a playmaker like Nurkic or Plumlee.
On defense, there’s some unknowns. As stated, Richards is a good shot-blocker. He will sit in a deep drop and pounce on any secondary opportunities while showing some verticality on the initial threats that want to still drive inside when he’s there.
As far as consistency and scheme versatility, who knows. Lee cited improvement with Richards’ versatility on defense and how Richards had a great summer picking up the terminology and spots on the floor to be in before training camp even got underway. But for 20-win teams that stink on defense, it’s not the right ecosystem to evaluate how good or bad of a team defender someone is. The question is if this is even the right ecosystem for him to get better as a defender, since the Suns are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA.
Overall, it’s still a gigantic addition in terms of what the Suns had before. Nurkic became unplayable only just a few weeks into the season. Plumlee’s athleticism took another step back this season as he got older and that also made him unplayable. That put all the hopes on rookie Oso Ighodaro, who gives Phoenix good minutes but is also undersized and a rookie trying his best to survive in the hyper-advanced feel to cover ball screens.
With that, Richards will help prevent the Suns from getting dominated by middle-of-the-road centers, a consistent in-game plot line that has become more and more maddening to watch. The Suns and Richards just need to start with that and then see where they can improve from there, a true statement that speaks to how far this team still has to go.