The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to a three-year extension with big man Nick Richards with the deal being worth $15 million. He was drafted in the 2020 NBA Draft with the 42nd overall selection after playing college for the Kentucky Wildcats. The team stashed and developed him in the NBA G League for a while, but this season he has played a bigger role for the team. He has shown the team enough to warrant an extension and could be a building block for the team as they work to build a future contender.
Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards has agreed on a three-year, $15 million contract extension, his agent Javon Phillips and Jared Mucha of @excelbasketball tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 22, 2023
This season with the Charlotte Hornets, Nick Richards is averaging 7.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game. He has paired those numbers with a field goal percentage of 62.3 percent and a free-throw percentage of 75.8 percent. Most notably he has posted those numbers in just 18.2 minutes per game. Richards has emerged as a very good reserve big man for the team and now they have him under contract on a team-friendly deal for the next three seasons. Next up the Hornets will hope for a favorable 2023 NBA Draft Lottery selection and continue to try and build a contender around star guard LaMelo Ball.
