Breaking: The Warriors Might Have Found Their Next Hidden Gem — and His Name Is Will Richard
LOS ANGELES — It didn’t even register at first. When rookie Will Richard floated in his first NBA basket — a soft baseline touch off a Buddy Hield airball — head coach Steve Kerr didn’t call for the game ball. He forgot.
“I told the guys,” Kerr later laughed, “the reason I forgot is because Will looks like he’s in his seventh year. He doesn’t look like a rookie out there.”
That, right there, says everything.
In the Warriors’ 119-109 season-opening win over the Lakers, Richard didn’t play like a 56th overall pick just trying to survive. He played like he belonged. Fourteen minutes. Two made shots. Five points. One assist. One steal. But the box score doesn’t tell you what Kerr and the veterans already know: Golden State may have quietly struck gold again.
Richard, 22, arrived from Florida as a national champion, a four-year college player from a winning system — the exact archetype Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. have built their post-dynasty draft philosophy around. Mature. Defensive-minded. Ready to contribute now.
And that’s not just talk. Dunleavy’s last three drafts have produced Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Quinten Post, and now Richard — all second-rounders or late picks who’ve managed to carve out real minutes on one of the league’s deepest rosters. For a team living under a luxury-tax microscope, those low-cost, high-IQ contributors aren’t luxuries — they’re lifelines.
“Steve lets them play,” Hield said. “Will’s a national champ. He understands how to win. We all trust him. Steve trusts him. That’s all that matters.”
Trust. That’s a word you don’t often hear thrown at rookies — especially ones drafted in the 50s. But Richard is different.
At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, he’s not a physical outlier. Yet he reads the floor like one. His defensive awareness popped instantly in the opener: just minutes after checking in, he stripped Austin Reaves 35 feet from the basket. Two possessions later, he baited Luka Doncic — yes, that Luka — into a turnover by anticipating a post-entry pass and jumping the lane. That’s not luck. That’s feel.
“Even in college, Will saw the game two steps ahead,” Kerr said. “We noticed it in camp. His off-ball movement, the way he talks on defense — that’s veteran stuff.”
It’s also exactly what Golden State needs.
For all the flash of Curry, the emergence of Kuminga, and the presence of Draymond, the Warriors have quietly been rebuilding their bench around grinders — players who can spell stars, defend, and execute. If Richard continues this trajectory, he could join the growing list of under-the-radar hits that have kept this era alive longer than anyone expected.
And make no mistake: Richard’s story fits the Warriors’ DNA. He’s humble, confident, and already thinking about legacy. After the game, when the team finally tracked down the forgotten ball, he smiled: “Yeah, that’s staying with me,” he said. “Probably right next to my NCAA ring.”
Small moment. Big message.
Because while the NBA’s headlines swirl with betting scandals, trades, and superstar drama, the Warriors — somehow — keep doing what they’ve always done best: finding value where no one’s looking.
Dunleavy called it after the draft: “We see him as a two-way guy who can shoot and defend… He’s from a good program. He’s been coached. He knows how to play.”
Now, the rest of the league knows too.
A forgotten draft night pick. A preseason afterthought. One game in — and suddenly, the whispers are starting again.
Another steal in Golden State?
Don’t blink. You might miss the start of something real.
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