Ryan Earl Richards (born 24 April 1991) is a British-Jamaican basketball player who plays for the

Aomori Wat's Aomori Wat's is a Japanese professional basketball team located in Aomori, Aomori. The team currently competes in the B.League.http://www.bj-league.com/ TURKISH AIRLINES bj-league, accessed 20 September 2015 Roster Notable players ...

of the

B.League The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that w ...

. He began playing in England and has played for short spells for numerous teams in several countries. He was drafted by the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

with the 49th overall pick in the

2010 NBA Draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

, but never played a regular season game for the team.

Junior career

In 2005–06, Richards played for the Medway Park Crusaders, making regular appearances with the senior team aged only 14, in the

English Basketball League The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 4 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish B ...

's third division. He averaged four points and four rebounds per game and helped the Crusaders finish runner-up in the 2006 National Shield. He also competed for England at the 2006 U16 European Championship (Division B) as an U15 player. Furthermore, he finished second on the team in scoring (9.7 ppg) and third in rebounding (5.6 rpg). In 2006–07, Richards played for

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...

's U16 cadet team at the Spanish Academy level. He also competed for its U18 junior squad. He posted a 33-point performance in leading his club to a championship. In April 2007, he played for the World Select team at the Nike Hoop Summit at just 15 years old, going 0-2 from the field in three minutes. He later represented England at the 2007 U16 European Championship (Division B), where he averaged 18.6 points and 11.6 rebounds over seven appearances in helping his squad to a fourth-place finish. In 2007–08, Richards played for C.B. Agüimes of the Junior League of Canaria. He also played in three games for Real Madrid's junior team at the Nike Junior International Tournament, averaging 15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in 22.4 minutes.

Professional career

Early years (2008–2011)

In 2008, Richards joined the junior program of Belgian club

Belfius Mons-Hainaut Belfius Mons-Hainaut is a Belgian professional basketball club that is based in Mons, Wallonia. The club competes in the highest division of the country, the BNXT League. The club's home arena is the Mons Arena. Founded as Quaregnon in 1959, the c ...

. In Belgium's third division, he helped the squad go 16–8 in Group B. In March 2009, Richards made his debut in the

Ethias League The Pro Basketball League (PBL), was the highest tier level professional basketball league in Belgium for clubs. In 2021, the league was succeeded by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League. Through 2014, for sponsorship reasons, the league was previously ...

. During the 2008–09 season, he also played two games in the Nike Junior International Tournament for German club

Brose Baskets Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketba ...

, averaging 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 29.3 minutes. Richards later played two games at the 2009 U-18 European Championship for England, averaging 29.0 points and 13.0 rebounds. For the 2009–10 season, Richards joined

and started the season with the team's junior squad, La Caja Gran Canaria, in the Spanish EBA. He averaged 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 18.4 minutes per game over three appearances. Following this three-game stint, he began suiting up for the senior squad, but never made it onto the court with Gran Canaria. In January 2010, he was loaned to Swiss club

BBC Monthey BBC Monthey-Chablais is a Swiss professional basketball team based in Monthey. The team currently plays in the Swiss Ligue Nationale de Basketball. The team has won the Swiss championships three times, in 1996, 2005 and 2017. In July 2018, the clu ...

for the rest of the 2009–10 season. He played six games for Monthey before separating his shoulder. He averaged 13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 20.3 minutes. On 24 June 2010, Richards was selected by the

with the 49th overall pick in the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

. He did not join the Spurs for the 2010–11 season; instead, he spent the season recovering from two shoulder surgeries.

Europe and Asia (2011–present)

On 9 September 2011, Richards signed with Swiss club

Lugano Tigers The Lugano Tigers are a Swiss professional basketball club that is based in Lugano, Switzerland. The club competes in the Swiss Basketball League (SBL), the highest domestic tier. Founded as FN Lugano, the team was re-named to Lugano Snakes in 1 ...

. He left the team in February 2012. Two months later, he signed with

BC Sukhumi BC Sukhumi ( ka, ს.კ. სოხუმი) is a professional basketball club from the city of Sukhumi, that plays in the Georgian Superliga. The club is currently based in Tbilisi. History The club was established in 1991 in Sukhumi. Shortly af ...

of the Georgian Superleague. In July 2012, Richards joined the

for the

2012 NBA Summer League The 2012 NBA Summer League was a pro basketball league run by the NBA just after the 2012 NBA Draft. It took place in Orlando, Florida from July 9 to 13 and in Las Vegas, Nevada from July 13 to 22, 2012. Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers) an ...

. On 6 November 2012, he signed with Polish club

Asseco Prokom Gdynia Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from the company Asseco. Historically the team is one of the most successful in Poland, mainly because of t ...

. On 29 January 2013, he parted ways with Gdynia. Two weeks later, he signed with

BC Zepter Vienna Basketball Club Vienna, for sponsorship reasons BC GGMT Vienna, is an Austrian professional basketball club based in Vienna. It plays in the Austrian Basketball Superliga and has won the Austrian championship one time, in 2013. History The team w ...

for the rest of the season. With Zepter Vienna, he won an Austrian League championship. In July 2013, Richards re-joined the San Antonio Spurs for the

2013 NBA Summer League The 2013 NBA Summer League is a pro basketball league run by the NBA just after the 2013 NBA draft. It gives newly drafted players a chance to test their skills against each other, and to give them a feel for professional basketball. All 30 NBA ...

. He started the 2013–14 season with Dubai-based club Al Nasr, but returned to Europe in December 2013 and joined Greek club Ikaros Chalkidas for the rest of the season. On 19 July 2014, Richards signed with Zepter Vienna, returning to the club for a second stint. His second stint lasted just five games, as he parted ways with the club on 21 October 2014. Three days later, he signed with Hungarian club

BC Körmend BC Körmend, named Egis Körmend for sponsorship reasons, is a Hungarian professional basketball club, based in Körmend. The club was founded in 1962 and has won the domestic championship three times (1987, 1996, 2003) and the domestic cup seven ...

for the rest of the season. In April 2015, Richards moved to Iran where he joined Azad University Tehran. In June 2015, he signed with Chinese NBL side Guangxi Rhino. For the 2015–16 season, Richards returned to Iran to play for

Shahrdari Gorgan Shahrdari Gorgan Basketball Club is an Iranian professional basketball club based in Gorgan, Iran. They compete in the Iranian Basketball Super League. Established in 1969, the team plays its home games in the Gorgan Eagles Castle. Shahrdari has ...

. Following the Iranian season, he joined Lebanese club

Sagesse ''Sagesse'' (literal trans. "Wisdom") is a volume of France, French poetry by Paul Verlaine. First published in 1881 (see 1881 in poetry, 1880), it was important in the symbolism (arts), symbolist and modernism, modernist movements. The subject m ...

. He then had a short stint with Al-Ahli in May 2016. On 26 September 2016, Richards signed with the

for training camp. Three days later, he was waived by the Spurs. On 20 October 2016, Richards signed with Karpoš Sokoli in Macedonia. On 22 November 2016, he parted ways with Sokoli after appearing in four games. On 3 December 2016, he signed with Sanat Naft Abadan of the Iranian Super League. On 9 March 2018 Richards signed with Hallmann Vienna of the

Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga The Austrian Basketball Bundesliga (in German: Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga) was the top men's professional basketball league in Austria.O ...

. On 26 April 2018 Richards was reported to have parted way with the team without playing a game due to shoulder injury. On 6 July 2020 Richards signed with the

Phoenix Brussels Brussels Basketball, for sponsorship reasons known as Circus Brussels Basketball, is a professional basketball club based in Brussels, Belgium. The team plays in the BNXT League. Home games are played at the Sports Complex Neder-Over-Heembeek. Fo ...

of the

Pro Basketball League The Pro Basketball League (PBL), was the highest tier level professional basketball league in Belgium for clubs. In 2021, the league was succeeded by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League. Through 2014, for sponsorship reasons, the league was previously ...

. On 28 November 2020 Richards signed with the

Surrey Scorchers The Surrey Scorchers are an English professional basketball team based in Guildford, Surrey, that compete in the British Basketball League. The team was established in 2005 as the Guildford Heat by fans of former British Basketball League te ...

for the 2020–21 BBL season. This will be Richards second stint with the club in Great Britain. In April 2021, Richards signed with Angolan club

Petro de Luanda Petro is a masculine given name, a surname and an Ancient Roman cognomen. It may refer to: Given name * Petro Balabuyev (1931-2007), Ukrainian airplane designer, engineer and professor, lead designer of many Antonov airplanes * Petro Doroshenko (1 ...

to play in the

2021 BAL season The 2021 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 1, was the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Established as a joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA, the BAL is the highest tier continental leag ...

. Since September 2021, Richards plays for

in the Japanese

. On 29 June 2022, Richards signed with

Yamaguchi Patriots The Yamaguchi Patriots is a professional basketball team that competes in the Japanese B.League. Roster Notable players *Morgan Hikaru Aiken *Robert Sampson (basketball) Coaches *John Saintignon Arenas *Ube Tawaradao Memorial Gy ...

in the Japanese B.League.

ESPN "The Basketball Tournament" appearances

In summer 2016, Richards joined

Overseas Elite Overseas Elite was an American basketball team that participated in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team won the tournament four consecutive times: 2015 (prize money $1 million), 2016 ...

to participate in

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 201 ...

. The team repeated as champions of the South region, and eventually went on to defend their title defeating Team Colorado and bringing home an increased $2 million prize. He joined Ram Nation (VCU Alumni) for the 2018

BAL career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 0 , , 17.4 , , .438 , , .500 , , .714 , , 4.0 , , .8 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 8.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 6 , , 0 , , 17.4 , , .438 , , .500 , , .714 , , 4.0 , , .8 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 8.5

References

External links

Ryan Richards
at euroleague.net

at fiba.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Ryan 1991 births Living people Asseco Gdynia players Atlético Petróleos de Luanda basketball players Basketball players from Greater London BBC Monthey players BC Kalev/Cramo players BC Körmend players Aomori Wat's players BC Zepter Vienna players Belfius Mons-Hainaut players English expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland English men's basketball players Expatriate basketball people in Estonia Ikaros B.C. players Lugano Tigers players Power forwards (basketball) San Antonio Spurs draft picks Sagesse SC basketball players