Yesterday the self-righteous Sam Smith of ChicagoSports.com spouted out some supposed "inside knowledge" that Jason Richardson wanted to leave the Warriors and that JR's telling friends he wants to go to the Detroit Pistons or Chicago Bulls (see Rumor: Jason Richardson Wants to Go to the Pistons or Bulls). Well, if you talk to Jason Richardson it looks like good ol' Sam is full of it (via Janny Hu at SFGate.com):
"I don't even have family in Chicago, so I don't know how they got that. That's not true at all," said Richardson, a Michigan native. "I mean, everybody's playing good and we're trying to make the playoffs and you throw something like that out there? People are calling me, my teammates, like, 'Where did that come from?'
"It's kind of messed up, whoever ran that story. I've never said anything close to that."
Richardson, who just bought a new house in Oakland, says he not only wants to be there next season, but for the rest of his playing days. He is the second-longest tenured Warrior behind 10-year veteran Adonal Foyle.
"I've been here for six years, I love it here," Richardson said. "I mean, it's very seldom a player starts his career here and ends his career here, but I'd like to do that here, change things around."
Do you think Sam Smith just made this rumor up or do you think he actually has connections to Jason's "friends"?
Special thanks to loyal GSoM community member tadams1080 for putting this up in a diary Richardson Denies He Wants To Be Traded.