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Heat’s Richardson on Messi, ‘It’s going to change the whole landscape of the league’

ira winderman, south florida sun-sentinel
·3 min read
23

MIAMI — Josh Richardson was about soccer before soccer was about Miami.

Dealt by the Miami Heat prior to Inter Miami CF playing its first game in 2020, the 2015 second-round pick was a regular at friendlies, cup and tournament games played in South Florida during his initial four-season Heat tenure, routinely also taking to social media to invite Heat fans to challenge him online in EA Sports’ FIFA video game.

Now, after signing earlier this month as a free agent, Richardson is back with the Heat, timing that coincides with Lionel Messi’s Major League Soccer debut just a few miles up the road.

“It’s exciting, man, super exciting, just seeing, I feel like he’s the best footballer ever to step on a pitch,” Richardson, 29, said of Messi, 36. “So for someone of that stature to come to the MLS, first of all, it’s going to change the whole landscape of the league. And just for the City of Miami, being one of the biggest football cities in the United States, is going to be huge for us.”

Granted, the debut comes at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, but for Richardson it makes his once-and-again home feel even more like home.

“And for myself,” he said, “it’s very exciting for me, because I’m a huge football fan, so I’ll be at the games, hopefully. But, yeah, just seeing someone of his stature coming here is definitely groundbreaking. And I think it’ll move the league forward a lot very quickly.”

With that, having invested much of his NBA career in South Florida, Richardson, who has listed Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho as his favorite players, was asked about advice he would offer.

“What advice could I honestly give Lionel Messi at this point, in all honesty?” Richardson said. “Um, I would say come to the Heat games. Come watch the Heat play basketball, gonna have a good night.”

Because he actually never left South Florida, maintaining his Miami residence even when moving on to the Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans, Richardson said his connections remain in place.

“Actually, I do got some friends who have pretty good seats,” said Richardson, a staunch supporter of Arsenal in Enlgand’s Premier League, having taken in action at Emirates Stadium. “I’ll probably be at a few games. But, nah, I haven’t really looked into it too much. But he is the best soccer player ever to step on a pitch, so you know you’ll be seeing me out there at some point.”

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Retired Heat captain Udonis Haslem, who has made himself somewhat of an ambassador for South Florida sports, said it would be premature to compare the Messi effect to when Shaquille O’Neal and then LeBron James joined the Heat.

“Got to win first. Got to win first,” Haslem said, with O’Neal and James each with Miami championships. “Love Messi, love everything that is going on. But you’ve got to win first to be compared to those guys. It’s not disrespect, but until that championship comes and he brings that, then you say he’s with the Shaqs and those guys, because they brought that here.”

To a degree, the NBA already has moved to a soccer-basketball marriage, with its first in-season tournament this season, similar to Messi’s Inter Miami debut coming in the Leagues Cup,a new competition involving every team in MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX.

“I can see what the aim could be,” Richardson said of the NBA tournament that will crown a cup champion in December, “You could kind of compare it to a cup match in England, like Premier League to FA Cup, for instance, how it gives teams and players a chance to give other guys a new look or just to try new scheme, just to try new stuff. It gives you another chance to win something, for real. I think that’s a big add.”