Tom Izzo told the media a couple of weeks ago that Jase Richardson hadn't shut the door on anything, including a return to Michigan State, and after missing on Darius Adams on Tuesday evening, it feels like his NBA Draft stock is going to be the subject of conversation.
While I would give Richardson's chances of a return about 1.2%, I would say that him coming back would ease everyone's mind after missing out on Adams for a second time.
The Spartans are still going to be looking for his replacement in the meantime, but if he did decide to come back for one more season, there would be room for him. He would probably be an early favorite to win Big Ten Player of the Year and he'd also be an All-American candidate.
Adams' commitment to Maryland got me thinking about this potential return (which likely won't happen) and I decided to take a look at where everyone has him going in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Here are the latest NBA mock draft projections for Richardson:
Yahoo! Sports: No. 11 overall to the Dallas Mavericks
CBS Sports: No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs
Bleacher Report: No. 8 overall to the San Antonio Spurs
FanSided: No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs
ESPN (non-paywalled big board): No. 14 overall prospect
SI.com: No. 11 overall to the Dallas Mavericks
NBADraft.net: No. 18 overall to the Washington Wizards
The consensus pick here is No. 14 overall and most of these mock drafts have him landing in Texas with either the Spurs or the Mavericks. The lowest he's projected is No. 18 overall by NBADraft.net. The highest he's projected is No. 8 to the Spurs by Bleacher Report.
Honestly, this makes me feel slightly better about a return (now up to 1.5% chance) as he's a borderline lottery pick and one site even has him falling out of the lottery. I don't see him coming back with these projections, but anything is possible.
You can call this coping after losing out on Adams.