What Billy Richmond III said about NBA Draft deadline, return to Arkansas basketball

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For roughly 15 minutes on May 27, Arkansas basketball fans feared the worst possible outcome in the 2026 NBA Draft was a reality.

A report emerged that day from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein that Billy Richmond III was forgoing his junior year with the Razorbacks and keeping his name in the draft. Arkansas knew Meleek Thomas was also likely gone.

All of a sudden, it didn’t look like the Hogs would have any meaningful experience on its 2026-27 roster.

However, Rothstein backtracked and reported that Richmond would indeed return to Arkansas. The lefty is now slated to be the veteran on a team filled with freshmen and newcomers.

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Richmond made his first public comments about his decision during the latest Razorback Daily podcast released on Wednesday, June 17. He mentioned staying in the draft was a real possibility while he went through the NBA Combine and individual workouts.

“To be honest, during the whole process I was two feet in. This is what I want to do. I’m going to stay in the draft. I’m going to beat all the odds,” Richmond said. “I think it was the deadline or the day before the deadline, it was just more so, let’s weigh out our options. You can come back to school for a year, do your thing, just progress, get better and better.”

Richmond went on to call Rothstein’s first post on the ‘X’ app a “fake report,” He said he got a bunch of calls from people asking him if he was staying in the draft, and Richmond reached out to his agent to clarify his own future.

Whether the report was fake or not, sources close to the Arkansas program told the Southwest Times Record that they were under the impression Richmond had decided to stay in the draft when Rothstein shared that news. After a phone call with John Calipari, Arkansas was assured that Richmond was returning to school.

“It was all just a twist-and-turn, but I mean, it all played out for the better,” Richmond said on the podcast. “It got fans both sides of the story. They were sad, and then they got happy. It was cool seeing all the ‘oh no, Billy Goat is gone’. And then 10 minutes later, ‘awe, he back. We’re going to win a (championship).'”

Richmond said he NBA Draft preparation was focused on improving his jump shot and his on-ball offense. He’s also trying to level up as a defender after being named First Team All-Defense in the SEC for the 2025-26 season.

He’s impressed with the newcomers during the early portions of Arkansas’ summer workouts. He calls Finish import Miikka Muurinen ‘Baby Dirk’ in honor of NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki.

“Crazy skilled. (Muurinen) can stretch the floor,” Richmond said. “This whole freshmen class is great. The runs that we’ve been having, they just don’t even look like freshmen.”

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: What Billy Richmond III said about returning to Arkansas basketball