76ers guard Jason Richardson, 33, hopes to rejoin his team on the court by the end of January 2015 as per Yahoo Sports.
Richardson has not seen game action since January 2013 because of cartilage damage to his left knee. He underwent surgery in February of 2013. Somehow during his rehabilitation process, Richardson suffered a stress fracture in his right foot, which set back his date of return even further.
Richardson was first acquired by Philadelphia on August 10, 2012 in the Dwight Howard-to-Los Angeles mega-deal, which also brought center Andrew Bynum to the City of Brotherly Love. Missing the entire 2013-2014 season, Richardson desires to get back to playing at the Wells Fargo Center and contribute to the club which gave him a warm welcome alongside Bynum three summers ago at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
“Even though I’m the older Jason Richardson, the fans still haven’t seen what I can bring to this team. That’s what motivates me every day, because I don’t want to be that guy that came in that trade and it was two hurt players [that the team acquired]. Every day I'm motivated by that, the fans there at that press conference, cheering us on, having hopes of title contention. If I can get back and play this year, that would be great, because the fans deserve it.”
Starting in 33 games throughout the 2012-13 season, his .402 field goal percentage and 10.5 points per game were the lowest marks in his 12-year career. He is not ready to call his career quits after this season, however:
"My thing is to always walk away on my own terms. I understand that things happen. Me having this knee injury, fading away like that is not the way I wanted to go out. Retirement is three or four years away from now."
Richardson turns 34 on January 20, and would be the oldest player on the team by 6 years, excluding the inactive and recently acquired forward Andrei Kirilenko, 33, and center Ronny Turiaf, 31. Forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, 28, is currently the oldest active player on the Sixers' roster.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is a contributor to Sixerdelphia.com.
