Jason Richardson had himself a terrific 14-year NBA career playing for the Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Bobcats, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers, but he probably regrets his stint with Orlando the most.
But not because he was on a bad team.
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Magic had the talent to compete for a championship
Orlando was loaded when he came there in 2010. He regrets that they never won the championship, even though he had those expectations.
“When I got to Orlando, I thought this was going to be a situation where we could win a championship here. They were in a similar situation a few years prior [to that; they lost to Kobe [in the 2009 Finals]. The roster we had, myself, Turk [Hedo Turkoglu], Jameer Nelson. Mickael Pietrus was with us. We had some guys there. With JJ Redick, I thought we had a chance to be special. But, for some reason, we never gelled,” Jason said earlier this year when he was a guest on the “Entirely NBA” podcast.
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The main star of the team and one of the best players in the world at the time was Dwight Howard. However, even though he was a beast almost every time he stepped on the court, Richardson admits his desire to go elsewhere did affect team’s chemistry.
“I don’t know if it was a situation with Dwight who wanted to get out of there and make it to L.A… We underachieved. There was a cloud over us. The two years I was there, Dwight wanted to win, but whatever the situation was, it kinda was a distraction for us to be successful,” Richardson honestly told.
Dwight’s desire affected his teammates
Even though Howard ended up with the Lakers in 2012, for two years when Richardson was there, his desire to leave never affected Dwight’s performance on the court.
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When we look at the numbers, in 2010, Howard had his best year in terms of scoring with 22.9 points per game. He also added 14.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in 78 games played.
In the postseason, he got even better with 27.7 points and 15.5 rebounds per game, but the 52-30 Magic lost in the first round of the Playoffs to the Atlanta Hawks in six games, who had eight fewer wins during the regular season.
Next season, a back surgery ended his campaign and ultimately, he was able to force a trade to the Lakers.
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The cloud that Richardson was talking about in his interview was probably all the media coverage about Dwight’s status during those years. He first demanded a trade, then pulled back on his request. Then, the team’s coach at the time, Stan Van Gundy, confirmed a report that stated that Howard told the front office that he wanted Stan fired. Just a few seconds after he confirmed the report in front of the cameras, Howard hugged him from behind, unaware of what Van Gundy said just a moment ago, creating a very tense and uncomfortable moment.
Who knows how many of those moments happened behind the scenes and even though Howard obviously played really well when he was on the floor, Richardson and his other teammates were affected negatively. It’s a shame, because without all these distractions, Orlando had the talent to win it all.
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It goes to show you, so many other things need to fall in line for the team to win it all and talent alone is not enough.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 7, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.