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Richard “Big Rick” Swysh (born March 19, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers before he was drafted 3rd overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2010 NBA draft. 

After suffering multiple undisclosed injuries during the first few practices of rookie training camp, Swysh took to twitter to voice out his frustration with his teammates for calling him “fake” and “fragile.” Soon after it was revealed that Swysh was fabricating his injuries to avoid having to practice, a term he coined Swyshing.

On November 2, 2011, Richard “Big Rick” Swysh was in Las Vegas, Nevada with his posse “The Swysh Bros,” when surveillance cameras captured footage of Swysh partying in a popular nightclub on the strip. At the time, Swysh was not participating in any of the team’s practices because of an injury to his wrist.

The footage of Swysh went viral on YouTube after one of the hotel employees leaked the video, garnering more than a million views within the first day. The video gained much fanfare, particularly when “Big Rick” was on stage dancing to the song “Flick of the Wrist” by Chedda Da Connect.

On November 3, 2011, the Philadelphia 76ers suspended Swysh indefinitely. Swysh took this time away from basketball to travel to the Himalayas on a “voyage to discovery,” he told ESPN’s Michael Wilbon in an exclusive phone interview. 

Swysh returned to play on February 15, 2012 in a home game against the Golden State Warriors. He received a standing ovation off the bench, and contributed 16 points and 5 assists, on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field.

From that point, Swysh continued to make positive contributions to the team, and on March 4, 2012, he made his first-career start against the Dallas Mavericks. “Big Rick” put in his best performance to that point, scoring a game-high 27 points, 12 assists, and 4 rebounds.

The Philadelphia 76ers finished 10th in the Eastern Conference that year, in large part to their shaky start to the season. During the post-game interview of the final regular season game, Swysh told reporters, “We’ll make the playoffs next year. No doubt about it!”

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