Patrick Richard considered calling it a career four years ago, but his wife convinced him not to retire. Things couldn’t have turned out better since as Richard signed with U-BT Cluj-Napoca and feels perfectly at home - not to mention becoming a real winner.
Richard enters his fifth season with the Romanian powerhouse and his 12th campaign as a professional - something he truly values.
"If I sit and think about myself being a 12-year pro, it’s been a long journey and an amazing blessing to be doing it this long. I don’t take it for granted for sure though coming from where I’m from,” said Richard, who is a native of Carencro, a town of about 9,000 residents near Lafayette in southern Louisiana.
Few could have imagined Richard settling in one spot when looking at his career before arriving in Romania. After finishing his collegiate basketball career at McNeese State University in 2012, the point guard spent single seasons in Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Israel and Spain. In 2018, he started the season in Australia with the New Zealand Breakers and then in February 2019 moved to Italy to play for Reggio Emilia.
"I just remember each year thinking of proving myself so I could continue to move up and play at the highest level possible for me," he said.
Richard suffered a back injury in Italy in 2019 and thought about finishing his career.
"I had just come off having a back injury while playing in Italy and was pretty close to retiring that summer. I got convinced by my wife actually to continue playing," admitted Richard, who was 29 at the time.
Cluj showed interest in Richard and that was enough.
"That’s the reason I chose to come and haven’t looked back since," he said.
Richard really took a liking to the city of about 300,000 residents, especially because he had his family with him.