Richards finished Tuesday's 128-97 loss to the Suns with four points (1-2 FG, 2-4 FT), three rebounds and three blocks in 17 minutes off the bench.
After playing nothing more than garbage-time minutes over each of his last four games, Richards surprisingly re-entered head coach Steve Clifford's rotation as the primary backup to Mason Plumlee. Though he excelled as a shot blocker, Richards was a minus-18 during his time on the court and may not have done enough to permanently stave off promising rookie Mark Williams for the No. 2 center role. Perhaps Clifford just wanted to keep Richards involved after Williams had recently leapfrogged him in the rotation, but the Hornets' second unit is now worth monitoring over the next few games to see which of the two is the preferred backup option behind Plumlee.