No. 14: Malachi Richardson
Season Win Shares: -0.1 Current cap-figure: $1.6 million
Acquired from the Sacramento Kings midway through last season, Malachi Richardson has yet to make an impact for his new club.
Richardson’s lowly mark of five minutes per game has come despite multiple injuries for the team’s guards including Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright.
As part of a tax-maneuver, Richardson was brought in for the cult-hero Bruno Caboclo. The guard was seen as a low-risk move with the possibility of being a serviceable bench piece if everything went right. Unfortunately for the Raptors, he has kept up the struggles that plagued him with the Kings, failing to excel in any facet on the floor.
Out of Syracuse, Richardson was pegged as a guy who would be around a while. Despite his lack of production in college, scouts pegged him as an elite athlete that passed the eye test. There were even rumors he may go top-10 thanks to a smooth outside stroke:
Malachi Richardson with a jumper that would probably be behind the NBA 3-point line pic.twitter.com/gYirLNOwqe
— Ridiculous Upside (@RidicUpside) June 22, 2016
On offense, Richardson has registered an effective field goal percentage of 44.2 percent, the third-worst mark on the team. A lack of efficiency has limited him to a team-worst 1.4 points per game, a catalyst for his lack of usage and minutes.
The other end has failed to yield better results.
Of the players on this list, Richardson has yielded by far the worst results on defense, allowing the opposition to score at a 69.2-percent clip from the field. The mark is 19.5 percent worse than Fred VanVleet in second-to-last place.
Richardson, despite excitement out of the NBA Draft, is watching his career come to an end in only its infant stages. The only reason he was above Miles: An expiring contract that pays him just a shade over $1.5 million.