LAKE CHARLES – Even a kid from Louisiana can become a professional basketball star overseas.
 
Lafayette native and McNeese graduate Patrick Richard made himself well-known in Southwest Louisiana and around the Southland Conference with his spectacular play as a Cowboy throughout his playing days in the blue and gold from 2009-12.
 
Since then, he's become a world-wide household name in the professional ranks where he recently completed his 11^th season of playing overseas and his fourth in Romania with the UBT Cluj organization.
 
More impressively, as the Team Captain, he's helped guide his Romanian team to seven championships – two Super Cup, two Romanian Cup, and three Romanian League National Championships, earning All-Star accolades along the way.
 
Richard, a native of Lafayette, began his professional career with the Detroit Pistons in the 2012 NBA Summer League, then after getting drafted by the Iowa Energy in the seventh round of the 2012 NBA D-League Draft, he was released before playing a game. That led to his overseas career, one where he has become a superstar, especially in Romania.
 
He began his global career with the Sandringham Sabres in Australia for the 2013 SEABL where he averaged 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. From there, he signed with the Matrixx Magixx of the Dutch Basketball League where he was named to the All-DBL Team after averaging 15.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game in 38 contests.
 
In June of 2014, Richard signed with Mitteldeutscher BC of the Basketball Bundesliga, averaging 13.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He played with the Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket of the LNB Pro A in 2015; Maccabi Rishon LeZion of the Israeli Basketball Premier League in 2016; Joventut Badalone of the Liga ACB in 2017; and with the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL in 2018 and 2019.
 
In February 2019, he signed with Italian team Reggio Emilia and in July 2019, with his current team, Cluj in the Romanian League, a place where he and his family have called home the last four seasons.
 
"The fan base is probably the best I've played for in my career," he said just days after winning his seventh title and third-consecutive league championship. "We recently won our third league title and for game six, we had a sold-out arena of 10,000 fans.
 
"As a whole for the league, the fan bases are improving throughout. I'm a bit biased because I play for Cluj, but we definitely have the biggest fan base here in Romania."
 
Richard's squad also competes in the EuroCup, which is the second-highest European competition in Europe behind the EuroLeague. His team led that league in attendance the entire season as well, averaging over 6,000 fans.
 
While at McNeese, Richard averaged nearly 18 points per game his senior season, earning AP All-American Honorable Mention honors along the way. He was part of the Cowboys' 2011 SLC championship, the last time McNeese has hoisted the trophy. He also guided the Cowboys to back-to-back postseason tournament appearance (NIT in 2011 and CIT in 2012) and was named the Southland's Player of the Year in 2012.
 
His 'team-first' style of play as a Cowboy has made for an easy transition across the pond.
 
"It is a completely different style of play from the USA," he said. "Especially in comparison to the NBA. It's more team-oriented and the intensity of each game is played at a very high level because we don't play 82 game seasons. We play around 34-36 games in the Romanian League so each game literally matters. And in the EuroCup, the intensity goes up even higher because that regular season is 18 games, so there's less margin of error."
 
Outside of basketball, Richard said he's enjoying living in Romania, especially since his family is with him.
 
"It's more normal for me than others because I do have my wife and three kids here with me. This is also the first team I've played for multiple seasons with so it's more of a home now for my family and we treat it as such."
 
His family has purchased a home, his children attend an international school, and the city they reside, a majority of the people speak English.
 
"So it's fairly an easy living," he said.
 
Richard and his family don't make it back to the States as often as they would like, especially since he's been playing in Romania where the seasons last 10 months. He has become a dual citizen in Romania so he plays for the Romanian National Team which keeps him occupied in the summer.
 
At 33-years old, Richard says he feels like he could play another 10 years, "but I doubt I do that, lol!"
 
He has two years remaining on his contract with his current team and after that, says he'll take it year-by-year.
 
Once his playing days are done, the 2017 McNeese Sports Hall of Fame inductee said he wants to give back by going into coaching, whether it be in the professional ranks, college or high school.
 
"That's what I really want to do," he said. "I would love to give back a lot of what I've learned and coaching would be a great way to do it."
 
But for now, Richard is still pushing forward with his success in professional ball. He'll open play with the Romanian National Team on July 19 against Albania to begin a four-game, qualification slate for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025. Other games in Group I will take place on July 22 vs. Slovakia, July 29 vs. Albania, and August 2 vs. Slovakia.
 
When that time comes if he pursues a coaching career, Richard will be instilling tons of basketball knowledge and experience to his players, whether that be overseas or back in his home roots of Louisiana.