Let’s jump into Doc Brown’s Delorian and travel back to February 12, 1995. The scene is the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, where the 1995 NBA All-Star Game was being held. The Sacramento Kings were in the middle of a battle with the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, and the Kings star, Mitch Richmond, was just selected to play in his second All-Star Game.
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The Kings were the darlings of the NBA at the time, and many NBA fans were just beginning to learn of just how talented Richmond was. With everything seemingly going right for the Kings by the time the All-Star Game rolled around, it was almost destiny that Richmond would turn the game into his personal showcase of his skills.
And boy did Richmond put on a show.
Richmond would go on to score a game high 23 points on a scorching 10-of-13 shooting from the field, including hitting all three of his three pointers. For his efforts, Richmond became the first, and only King, to take home All-Star Game MVP honors.
To this day, Richmond winning the 1995 All-Star Game MVP award is one of the top highlights of the Kings franchise. With DeMarcus Cousins giving the All-Star Game a representative from Sacramento for the first time in years, we all hope that Cousins would pull a Richmond and put on a show for the NYC crowd.
I couldn’t find the footage of Richmond’s All-Star Game performance, but I did manage to find this retrospective of Richmond’s career in Sacramento. So while you’re waiting for the All-Star Game to kick off, sit back and enjoy one of the underrated greats to ever don an NBA uniform.