From Memphis to Camden High, Billy Richmond overcame pain to become a national prospect

Billy Richmond was the new kid in town, so it was only fitting in his first game on the hardwood, wearing yellow and purple with Camden written across the front, to make his name known.

The Memphis native, who transferred to Camden High as a junior last year, was playing on a squad filled with standouts including DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw, but he left the crowd inside Rancocas Valley’s gymnasium wondering: Who was that 6-foot-5 forward?

“Nobody really knew me or didn’t know who I was,” said Richmond. “I just came on the court and I was a dog. Everyone was like, ‘Oh, who was that, who was that?’ ”

“You could tell they accepted him from game one,” added his mother, Kimberly Thomas.

Richmond, a four-star wing who is ranked No. 22 nationally in the class of 2024 according to 247Sports, plans to follow Wagner and Bradshaw to the University of Kentucky next season to join coach John Calipari.

The roots run deep with Calipari. Wagner’s father, Dajuan Wagner, played at Memphis under Calipari in 2001, and Richmond’s father, Billy Richmond Jr., also played with the Tigers for two seasons after beginning his career at Vanderbilt.

The younger Richmond was raised by his mother, who also attended Memphis. Growing up, though, everybody knew his father and would compare them.

“My dad was always a big name, so people thought I would follow in his footsteps,” Richmond said. “I kind of want to be better than him. Exceed expectations, make my name bigger than his, become my own self.”

Richmond enjoys putting on a show. Whether it’s a spin and dunk, which is his signature move, or hitting a buzzer-beating three, that versatility led him to be a high-caliber recruit.

However, it wasn’t always easy. For the first year of Richmond’s high school career, he dealt with growing pains that affected his physical and mental well-being on the court. Because of it, travel coaches cut him and college coaches did not want to take a chance on him.

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It ultimately made him question whether basketball was worth it.

“I couldn’t do what I really do,” Richmond said. “It just brought me down and made me depressed. Usually, I’m the kid with the ball, but then I was thinking, ‘Do I really want the ball?’ I was overthinking everything.”

Richmond’s mother signed him up to play on the local YMCA team at age 3. By age 6, he had a grasp for basketball, competed on an AAU team, and had a trainer.

His trainer, Jevonte Holmes, who still coaches Richmond, knew the forward had potential, but as the player got older, Holmes had a conversation with Richmond about what exactly he wanted out of this.

Was it to be a good high school player, Holmes asked, or play at the college level or be an NBA player? Richmond had sights on the latter.

“We started talking about what it’s going to take,” said Holmes, the former basketball coach at Memphis East High who trains professional, college, and high school athletes. “He understood if I want to get here, I have to put extra time in that nobody sees and maximize my days.”

As a freshman at Memphis East, Richmond practiced at 5:30 a.m., then he would get another workout in before practice started. However, then came the agony from growing from a 6-foot eighth grader to a 6-foot-5 freshman.

He had excruciating knee pains. He couldn’t go up for a layup or dunk the way he normally would. He had to come off the floor early because he couldn’t run up and down the court at the pace he normally would.

His game suffered, which affected Richmond’s confidence. His relationship with basketball started to deteriorate.

“When I was going through chronic pain, there were days I couldn’t move at all, it was hard for me,” Richmond said. “I’m like, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ But my coach, he just supported me through the whole journey, stayed by my side. Him and my mama.”

Some had their doubts. Richmond was cut by his AAU program, Mokan Elite of Kansas, and the college recruiting process looked bleak. But Holmes reassured Richmond that he could get through it.

“Everybody was like, ‘He doesn’t play hard enough, he doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that,’ ” Holmes said. “A lot of people turned their backs on Billy. I remember like it was yesterday, I used to tell college coaches, ‘You need to be the first one to offer Billy, I’m telling you this kid is going to be special.’

“Honestly, I think that was a blessing in disguise because it taught him how to play without athletic ability.”

Richmond overcame his growing pains by rehabbing and focusing on strength and conditioning. In his sophomore season, he blossomed on the court. Holmes recalled that after his team played in a national tournament, several AAU and college coaches were coming to the school to watch Richmond play.

He received his first college scholarship offer from Memphis coach Penny Hardaway. It was a moment that Richmond would not forget. But there was more development to be done, so the 200-pound Richmond stayed locked in on his training.

Then Dajuan Wagner and Arthur Barclay, who played at Camden and Memphis, connected with Thomas during an AAU tournament about having her son play with the NJ Scholars. At first, she wasn’t thrilled about the idea of him going to New Jersey.

But at the end of Richmond’s sophomore season, she wanted to change travel programs to give him better playing opportunities. So she decided to take him to the tryouts.

“When we got up there, he said, ‘Mom, that’s home.’ He feels comfortable,” Thomas said.

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And the chips started to fall into place. Holmes was ready to leave high school coaching to focus solely on training after the 2021-22 season. As Richmond bonded with his Scholars teammates, most of whom attended Camden, he wanted to transfer into the Panthers’ program.

“That was a great experience that I wish I could get back,” Richmond said of playing with last year’s Camden High graduates. “We all just clicked, we all have fun. It was just a bond on and off the court, kind of like a brotherhood.”

While his mother was working on moving to South Jersey, Richmond lived with Wagner for six months until Thomas and her daughter came to the area.

It was a seamless transition and worth doing for her son, Thomas said. During Richmond’s junior year, when he averaged 11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists, he played a supporting role alongside Wagner and Bradshaw.

The scholarship offers hit an uptick that season. Richmond announced his commitment to the Wildcats ahead of his senior season after narrowing his choices to Kentucky, Memphis, LSU, and Alabama.

He conceded, though, that the hardest decision was choosing between Memphis and Kentucky.

“First time I went there, I knew I was coming there, it was just a gut feeling,” Richmond said about Kentucky. “It was a difficult decision; Coach Penny is like my uncle. It was my hometown — I’ve got family there. I couldn’t have went wrong with it, but Kentucky was the school.”

Second-year Camden coach Maalik Wayns, who played at Roman Catholic and Villanova, saw Richmond’s growth this offseason as a vocal leader. It has paid dividends as the Panthers (21-2) look to bounce back from last season, when the team was withdrawn from the NJSIAA tournament after a fight ended the Camden County championship game with Eastside.

“A lot of people were down on us about losing eight to nine guys last year,” Wayns said. “He’s led the team. We won some big games nationally and he’s been leading the way. He’s been doing great. I think he’s going to continue to do great things after he leaves Camden. He’s on a great trajectory.”

Richmond has averaged 18.1 points in 21 games. He has used this season to develop a better understanding of being a point guard. Wayns referred to him as a younger version of Toronto Raptors guard RJ Barrett.

The goal is to play in the NBA. Whether that comes after one year or four in college ball, Richmond is persistent about getting there. But whenever he feels the pressure of a big game or the next steps at the college level, he remembers what he overcame to become the player he is now.

“There were days I didn’t want to work out, I didn’t want to pick up a basketball,” Richmond said. “I just wanted to go home and lay down, but I’m a hardworking person. I knew it was going to pay off, and that’s why I got up.”