Richaun Holmes
Washington Wizards

Player Facts

Height: 6'10"
Weight: 235lbs.

Wingspan: 7'1.5"

Date of Birth: Oct. 15, 1993
College Experience: Bowling Green (3 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 7
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 7
Positional Wingspan: 9
Paint Scoring: 9
Midrange Scoring: 4
Three-Point Scoring: 1
Dribbling: 4
Passing: 4
Perimeter Defense: 5
Interior Defense: 8
Rebounding: 8

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Tin Finishing

> Soft Rolling + Push Shot Prowess

> Garbage Buckets

> Offensive Skill Strides

> Lanky Defense

> Shot-Blocking

> Board Collection

> Glaring Scoring Holes

> Late Rotations + Fouling

> Thinner Than Peers

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of NF Classic (YouTube),

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

*This page may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase
through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclaimer for more information.

Join the Patreon for Exclusive Player Profiles & Additional Perks!

Become a Patron!

STRENGTHS

Intro

Richaun Holmes plays the game hard and brings great intensity to his team. He has shored up many of the weaknesses that plagued him early on. The current version of Holmes provides value in various ways on both offense and defense.

Shop Holmes at
NBAStore.com >>
Washington Wizards NBA gear and apparel.
Shop Wizards at
NBAStore.com >>

Tin Finishing

From the jump, Richaun has been an awesome paint finisher. He's quick and springy at 6'10" with the near-7'2" reach to snag lobs far from his torso. He never backs down from a matchup either, looking to viciously punch it over his counterpart. Moreover, he's opportunistic with his duck-ins and deep-seal chances.

Spanning 2017-2018 to 2019-2020, Richaun made 439 of 598 shots at the tin. That works out to a whopping 73.4%. That 70%+ club is an elite one to be a consistent member of like Holmes is. The next career chapter of 2020-2021 to 2024-2025 saw his conversion rate never fall below 67%, up over 80% for most of that final season there.

Holmes also does a great job of getting out of the screen fast. By doing so, past teammates like De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, and Kyrie Irving could find him streaking swiftly down the middle.

At 3.5 ppg on rolls in 2019-2020, he averaged more buckets than Nikola Jokic, Christian Wood, Bam Adebayo and Andre Drummond. 2024-2025 saw amazing roll-man numbers in an injuiry-shrinked sample size.

Soft Rolling + Push Shot Prowess

Besides his high-gravity dives to the iron, Richaun is a lethal short-rolling option. His vision from these spots plus his killer push shot make for a versatile player here. The threat of that floater-type shot alone is something he uses to power to the hole, simply throwing in an up-fake.

By remaining highly accurate out to 8-10 feet, Richaun transforms into more than just a "dunker" out of the dunker's spot. He can bide his time a little further from the basket as his teammate drives. By being a step or two back, Holmes pulls his defenders further from the rim.

By the numbers, Richaun's famous push shot stands strong. He made over 50% of them across 2019-2020. In fact, he was able to nail north of 51% on non-charge circle paint shots that year (then again most recently in 2022-2023), a testament to his touch.

Garbage Buckets

Supplemental scoring comes from second-chance opportunities for Richaun. The active big man has a quick second jump and superb rebounding instincts. All told, he was in the 75th percentile for putback scoring in 2019-2020. He was again solidly in the league's upper half in his 2024-2025 Wizards campaign.

Offensive Skill Strides

Holmes has worked hard to hone his skills, particularly in areas that were previously labelled as weaknesses. For instance, free throw shooting was historically a weak point for the big man. However, he has grown himself into a high-70s/low-80s guy from the stripe.

Another noteworthy leap the Bowling Green State product has made at the NBA level is playmaking. Holmes has sharpened his skills and expanded his vision to the point where he's serviceable in most half-court actions that call upon a read-making big man. Richaun's short-roll and "delay" passing in particular is night-and-day compared to film in his first couple of seasons.

Lanky Defense

Richaun has made some big-time strides in the defensive department since his early days in Philly. He now does just about everything you need him to do as a modern five-man while throwing in some steals/deflections. His length and athletic tools match up near-perfectly with the archetypical "versatile defensive center".

The 6-foot-10 pivot can be utilized within a switching style. He is in the upper percentiles in terms of lateral mobility for his position, which plays here. When beaten off-the-bounce, he can recover for monster swats from behind (sometimes even two-handed denials).

2019-2020 saw him fare admirably well during his spurts checking guards. He spent just over 15% of his time that season lined up against a backcourt player post-switch. Holmes was able to limit them to 27.1% from deep and 41% overall. This skill is mostly intact into his age-30+ seasons.

Shot-Blocking

Richaun fits neatly into the drop-style screen-and-roll coverage as well. The perimeter players can funnel slashers toward the shot-blocking Holmes. He may go after everything, sometimes to his detriment, but all in all, he's a staunch rim deterrent at his size.

Holmes blocked 2.4 shots per-36 in 2018-2019 then 1.2 in 2023-2024 in weaker team defensive environments. Switching metrics, his sizeable 10.3 2pt contests per-36 in that former season also helped tell the tale.

Board Collection

The big man is a formidable rebounder on both ends. Regarding his defensive rebounding specifically, he boxes out well to help finish possessions for his team. He posted 3.6 defensive box-outs/36 in 2019-2020 – outpacing Domantas Sabonis, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis.

2024-2025 per-play defensive board collection remains strong. Holmes' propensity for snaring boards in traffic is a big value-add.

WEAKNESSES

Glaring Scoring Holes

Richaun Holmes is a non-shooter at the center slot. While these seem to be a dying breed in the modern NBA, Richaun wisely contributes in a bevy of other ways. Still, it's tough to ignore the higher ceiling he would have if he could stroke threes.

The Illinois native's two-point jumpers are more accurate and frequent than his triples. However, he is not a high-volume guy from this area either. Richaun should look to get to the point where the pick-and-pop is a deadly, viable action when he's involved.

Richaun is not a throw-it-down-to-the-block style of big man. His post game is limited and it's not something his team explores very often. He notched only 21 post points during 2019-2020. He did not even register on the leaderboard spreadsheets in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.

Late Rotations + Fouling

Holmes will be out of position from time to time as the help man. He can miss a rotation or be late to the scene. This can be devastating for the defense given his backline-responsibilities as a center.

Failing to be punctual on his rotations is what can lead to Richaun's fouling. Some biting on pump fakes and general over-zealousness can also be to blame. He simply fouls far too often given that he's not even an elite rim protector.

In 2018-2019 he averaged a troublesome 5.9 fouls per-36 minutes. That fell to a lower, but still undesirable, 4.9 per-36 in 2019-2020. Foul trouble has kept him off the floor at times throughout his career and remains an issue into his early 30s.

Thinner Than Peers

He's a bit too slight of build to handle bruisers. At 235-pounds he's one of the lighter full-time centers. Relatively small hands also mitigate his chances of stripping these guys.

Richaun was in only the 50th percentile defending post-ups in Dallas in 2023-2024. Players like Nikola Vucevic, Jonas Valanciunas and Joel Embiid have given him the business. When help is needed in these spots, it leaves the defense vulnerable somewhere else or in "scramble mode".

*Subscribe Here to NEVER miss a new profile!*

Players Appearing Here – Check Out Their Profiles
bacon
Beacon Bacon

Holmes has surprisingly small hands relative to his height – at 8.5 inches wide they were smaller than those of guards Norman Powell and Devin Booker, and identical to the 6'1" Terry Rozier's at the 2015 Draft Combine