Exclusive: How Warriors rookie Will Richard’s winning habits turned him into a key role player

SAN FRANCISCO–  It has been a whirlwind last eight months for rookie Will Richard. He led the Florida Gators to their third-ever National Championship in April. Two months later, the Golden State Warriors selected the 22-year-old shooting guard with the 56th pick in the NBA Draft. 

By November, on an unsuspecting rainy night on the road in Sacramento with the Warriors veterans out due to a mix of injuries and load management, the second-round rookie scored 30 points in his first career start.

“It’s been a crazy eight months,” Richard told ClutchPoints. “From winning the national championship to going right into pre-draft after that, went to summer league– it’s been non-stop, but it’s been fun.”

Now, in December, Richard has carved out a role for himself on a Warriors team with lofty aspirations. Some nights, he starts next to the likes of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler, players he idolized growing up. 

Other times, he’s more than comfortable off the bench and in the do-it-all, Swiss Army Knife spark plug role he’s shown he’s capable of.

To most of the NBA world, he has been a pleasant surprise. 

But for Richard and those who’ve been around him to watch his rise to the highest league in professional basketball, everything that has happened in the last nine months is a culmination of years upon years of hard work and commitment.

Foundation of work ethic– Richard’s origins at Georgia

Richard’s ascension to the NBA was anything but certain.

“I thought he definitely had the skills to get there, especially as he went through college,” Woodward Academy head coach Anthony Thomas told ClutchPoints. “But if you’d asked me today, the first day I met him, I would say, no. But that shows you how much work he put in.”

The work began at 6 a.m. sharp in the morning– in Woodward Academy’s cold, empty gym in College Park, Georgia. 

For five or six days every week from junior year of high school to graduation, Richard’s mornings were consumed with rigorous shooting drills with Woodward assistant coach Rob Lawrence.

Thomas convinced Richard they were necessary if he wanted to chase his NBA dreams and set himself apart from the thousands of other kids who shared similar aspirations.

“I just separated myself,” Richard said. “Wasn’t really recruited high in high school, so I knew little things like that would help me a lot… I felt a lot of confidence on the court just because I knew how much work I put in to get to that point.”

The work Richard put in included dropping from 230 pounds to a slim 195. 

Even with high metabolism, most teenagers do not just shed 35 pounds, even if they have a mother supporting them by cooking low-calorie meals of salmon and salad, as Helen Richard did for her son. 

And along with developing Richard’s jumpshot, Thomas helped Richard build the intangibles that would help him eventually become a deadly off-ball slasher with a knack for reading the ebbs of a defense. 

Thomas’ teachings and Richard’s commitment to the process culminated in Woodward’s “2-High-Go” special, the backdoor play for Richard lurking in the left corner that got Richard his first posterizer dunk against Oxford High School.

Between the thousands of hours of shooting drills, practices, and school, there was always time for a munchy run to Pit Boss BBQ, a mom and pop barbecue joint five minutes away from Woodward that Richard, future NBA center Walker Kesseler, and their teammates would partake in. There’s only so much dieting a 16-year-old can do. 

Regardless, what fueled him during those lucid and lonely mornings was internal. Thomas described the teenager as a “workaholic” when thinking back on his very first impressions of Richard.

“He was just ultra competitive. To the point where I had to kind of look at him and say, ‘Hey man, let’s be smart,” Thomas laughed.  “I always said I would rather have to rein somebody in, than pull it out of them.”

Richard’s competitive fire helped earn Woodward Academy the Georgia 4A State Championship in his junior year. And as a senior, Richard earned first-team All-State honors as a senior and finished his high school career with over 1,000 points and 90 wins. 

Finding his voice in the Everglades

Florida Gators assistant coach Carlin Hartman saw glimpses of Richard’s work ethic and competitiveness when he and Todd Golden began recruiting the 20-year-old after his first collegiate season at Belmont, a mid-major program in Nashville.

Sure, Richard’s 3-and-D capabilities and 6-10 wingspan certainly enticed the Gator coaches in their goal to return Florida to the top of the collegiate mountain top. 

But they were also searching for high-character individuals who could help instill the winning culture Golden and Hartman sought.

Richard, on the other hand, sought something more than just helping rebuild an upper-tier program.

“I had a very transparent conversation with him about what I was expecting, what I wanted to come and do and how I wanted to use Florida to get to the next level,” Richard said. “[Hartman] kept it real, having said he was always going to have my back. He was always going to keep it honest. And it paid off for sure.”

Hartman remained honest with Richard’s NBA ambitions. The kid was good. But he needed to get better.

Hartman told Richard Florida needed him to learn how to come off a ball screen, to add 45 cuts and baseline cuts to his repertoire. He told Richard he needed to distinguish good twos from bad twos, to avoid the temptation of gambling with reaching ins on defense, and to master manipulating the pick and roll.

But the most important thing Hartman asked of Richard was to use his voice.

“This is the thing I talked about is with his dad (Al) quite often,” Hartman told ClutchPoints. “Al would always say that Will’s by nature, a very quiet kid. But I said to Al, the way that he takes another step is by utilizing his voice.” 

Richard earned the respect of teammates through his solid play and a dogged work ethic. 

When he spoke, the Florida locker room listened.

“He became the voice of our program, quite frankly, especially in his last two years. He was the guy who was talking in huddles, he was the guy who was breaking down the huddles before the game.”

Richard’s impact went beyond rah-rah speeches. 

He started 105 games out of a possible 108, averaging 11.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals on 46.2% from the field. And in the 2025 NCAA finals, Richard scored a team-high 18 points on 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to secure Florida a national title.

In the process, Richard and Hartman’s relationship evolved from a coach and a player who saw eye-to-eye into a tight-knit, familial bond. 

On draft night, Hartman and his son Joseph drove up to Atlanta, Georgia to join Richard and his family when the Warriors selected him 56th overall.

“Will is extremely unique and extremely special,” Hartman said. “The fact that he was a guy who stuck with the process, believed in the process, believed in us at Florida, believed in me and my mentorship with him. I will always be forever grateful for that and for him.”

“I call him often,” Richard laughed. “He’s literally like my unc.”

Photo courtesy of Carlin Hartman

Overlooked by most of the NBA

Even with a national championship ring on his finger and a piece of the net in his pocket, Richard was not a highly sought-after prospect. 

Scouts pointed to Richard’s lack of advanced creation skills, his somewhat average physical traits – 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds doesn’t open eyeballs when you’re not a high-flyer – relative to the NBA. 

Richard, being 22 years old, which is really only old if you are entering the NBA draft, was also a factor. 

Richard was well aware of the NBA’s preference to draft younger prospects because of their potential. But Richard was quick to point out how all the things Hartman and Florida pushed him to learn have helped him jump headfirst into the NBA.

“I feel like those four years at Florida helped me out with my experience. I feel like it helped me adjust much quicker than if I were an 18-year-old freshman or something like that. So no knock to the guys that get drafted who are younger than me… I know my journey is different from everyone else, so I’m happy how it went.”

Evaluating age and potential against experience and ceiling has always been a thing in the NBA. It will probably remain a thing long after Richard, no matter how high he extends his ceiling. 

But Hartman pointed to his former player in Austin Reaves, a guy who went undrafted but is now on the verge of becoming an all-star this season with the Los Angeles Lakers, as an example in his favor.

“Austin was the same,” Hartman said. “Austin was a guy that was a plug in play guy because he played four years in college. Those guys are really, really valuable.”

Richard’s path also echoes his Warriors vet, Draymond Green, another second-round success story. Like Richard, Green was also a 22-year-old prospect from a winning program when he fell to the 35th pick in 2012. And right now, Richard’s playing with the same high-motor Green made waves with back when he was unproven.

“He plays hard right now, and that is a skill,” Stephen Curry said of Richard in the first week of the season. “I just love the way he approaches the game with his competitiveness, his energy. You can tell he cares. That is a skillset that will carry you a long way.”

Reflecting on his journey

Despite the many early successes for Richard, he understands the ephemeral nature of the league. In a profession defined by results and winning, things move fast in the NBA.

The results thus far have been positive through 22 games. Richard ranks 11th in scoring among rookies (8.3 points), fourth in field goal percentage (53.2%), and fifth in 3-point percentage (38.5%). Whether he sustains those numbers is the next step in his basketball journey.

Coach Steve Kerr is inclined to believe he can. After the Warriors’ 114-83 win over the Pacers in early November, in which he scored 15 points and tallied a +19 plus/minus, Kerr made it clear that Richard will be a key contributor moving forward this season.

“ [Assistant coach] Ron Adams says this constantly. It’s a show me league,” Kerr said in mid-October. “That means the second you get your opportunity, [you’d] better show me. And Will has 100% shown me and shown Ron and shown our whole staff he can play.”

Richard is not content with what he has done thus far, and remains proactive in asking his vets a plethora of questions. 

But nothing about the speed and intensity of the NBA business will ever make Richard shy away from expressing his gratitude toward Thomas, Hartman, and the people who helped him to this point in his career. 

“[I’m] keeping them updated,” Richard said with a smile. “I mean, they’re some of my biggest supporters. Staying connected with them, seeing how things are going at Florida and Woodward. And just saying thank you to them because they’ve been a huge part of my journey.”

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