Syracuse freshman Malachi Richardson will sign with an agent, remain in the NBA Draft and forgo his final three seasons of college basketball, a source told CBS Sports on Monday.
The 6-foot-6 guard is signing with ASM Sports. As Syracuse.com points out, ASM also has former Orange players Rakeem Christmas and Trevor Cooney as clients.
Richardson averaged 13.4 points this season and saw his so-called stock rise during Syracuse's surprising run to the Final Four. He got 21 second-half points in an Elite Eight win over Virginia. So it's not a stretch to state that Syracuse's success in March created this loss in May, which is a point I made in Friday's column.
Where will Richardson be selected?
That's difficult to answer, frankly. But the fact that the NBA did not require him to play five-on-five at last week's combine suggests he's something close to a first-round talent. The late lottery isn't out of the question.