High school basketball: Jase, Jaxon Richardson join Boozer brothers at Columbus

The No. 1 team in the Way-Too-Early MaxPreps Top 25 rankings released in April received a major boost Monday night as Jase and Jaxon Richardson announced they were transferring to Columbus (Miami, Fla.) for the 2023-24 high school basketball season.

The sons of former NBA standout Jason Richardson join the sons of former NBA all-star Carlos Boozer to give the Explorers a rotation loaded with high-major talent and NBA legacies.

Columbus is expected to return four of five starters from back-to-back runs to the Class 7A state title, headlined by reigning MaxPreps National Player of the Year Cameron Boozer along with five-star Class of 2025 guard Cayden Boozer, under-the-radar Class of 2024 wing Malik Abdullahi and Class of 2025 guard Benny Fragela.

The Explorers finished the season No. 8 in the MaxPreps Top 25 after going 28-4 in 2022-23 and were ranked No. 18 in 2021-22 with a 30-2 record.

Jase Richardson, a 6-foot-2 guard, is regarded as the No. 50 overall prospect in the Class of 2024 and had a strong showing at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam. He averaged 20.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per contest. Jaxon Richardson, a 6-foot-5 wing, is a promising Class of 2026 prospect who was named to the MaxPreps Freshman All-America team after averaging eight points and six rebounds per outing last season.

The Richardson brothers are the latest high-level prospects to leave Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) after four-star Ohio State commit John Mobley and four-star Class of 2025 forward Christopher Nwuli announced their departure for Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) earlier in the summer.