ORLANDO, Fla. — Tuesday morning, seven months after Florida won the NCAA men’s basketball championship, Gators coach Todd Golden drove two hours from Gainesville to Orlando to give Golden State Warriors guard Will Richard his ring. Golden, along with Florida assistant Carlin Hartman, gave the ring to Richard in front of the rest of the Warriors in a brief ceremony prior to Tuesday’s game against the Orlando Magic.

“It was special,” Richard said before Tuesday’s game. “I ain’t seen (Golden) in a minute, a few months, it was good to see him. Coach (Carlin) Hartman kind of took me under his wing. Both of them poured a lot into me at Florida so it was special to have them here.”

After being introduced by Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Golden gave a brief speech to the Warriors about how much Richard meant to the Florida program, especially in the win over the Houston Cougars in the National Championship game. After being pushed by his new teammates to give a speech, Richard, who was seated next to another Florida alum, Al Horford, put his ring on.

“I appreciate y’all,” Richard said to his teammates in a video released by the Warriors. “I won one of these in college. I’m looking forward to winning one here. So let’s do it.”

It was a moment that resonated for the rest of the veteran group; they appreciate the way Richard plays and how he carries himself. The Warriors acquired him in a trade at the end of the second round of the 2025 Draft.

“That was cool,” Warriors superstar Stephen Curry said about the ceremony. “To hear how (Golden) talked about Will, his character, we’ve been able to see it since he’s been with us, but you could tell it was from the heart and he was super grateful what Will did for their program while he was there … to win a championship you rely on high quality, high character guys who can also hoop and it’s cool to see that interaction Will get and get that honor.”

The Gators beat the Cougars in April to win the NCAA Tournament. (Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)

Richard has quickly moved into the starting lineup and has become a favorite of Kerr in his short time with the Warriors. He had six points and two assists in 15 minutes during Tuesday’s 113-121 loss to the Magic. Kerr called the small ring ceremony “awesome.”

“We were able to surprise Will,” Kerr said. “And Todd presented him his championship ring and Will was just great. The guys gave him a good ovation. He’s a great young guy and it was fun to be able to celebrate his accomplishment, and the Gators’ accomplishment, with Al sitting there and coach Golden sitting there. It was a really nice moment.”

It was a moment that Horford, who won back-to-back championships at Florida in 2006 and 2007, enjoyed as well. Horford called the experience a “full circle moment” and was happy that all the pieces on the schedule came together to allow Richard the opportunity to celebrate with his teammates. Golden made the drive from Gainesville prior to Tuesday’s practice so he could share the moment with Richard. Horford said Richard had been showing him the design of the ring for several weeks before getting the real thing in person on Tuesday.

“He kind of let us know how Will was his first guy,” Horford said. “And they kind of found everything else and found a lot of guys to put it all together, but it was a pretty special moment.”

Richard recently said that his Warriors teammates have been calling him ‘Baby Gator’ in honor of his Florida ties, and the fact that he is now professional teammates with Horford. Richard enjoys being one of the flag bearers for a new era of Gator players in the NBA.

“That’s something that’s going to always be a part of us,” Richard said. “What we learned there and what we did at Florida is something that you can carry onto the next level and that’s just helping teams win and doing it at a high level. So I feel like that’s a chip we both carry and it means a lot to us to be able to represent Florida.”