Richard Lee Washington (born July 15, 1955) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

, winning a national championship in 1975, when he was voted the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player. After being named a consensus first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

as a junior in 1976, he was selected by the

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

with the third overall pick of the

1976 NBA draft The 1976 NBA draft was the 30th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 8, 1976, before the 1976–77 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

Early life

A 6'11" center born in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, Washington played high school ball at Portland's Benson Tech. An all-around athlete and agile big man, Washington was a three-time all-state and first-team all-tournament selection and led Benson to state championships in 1971 and 1973. Benson was a combined 77–6 those three seasons. Washington was also a hurdler in track and, as a defensive end-receiver, was MVP on the Techmen football team his junior year (the last year he played football).

College career

Washington was highly recruited out of high school and seriously considered the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, but he decided to play college basketball for perennial national champion

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and legendary coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

. He played three seasons at UCLA, with the Bruins going 26–4, 28–3 and 28–4. They won three

Pac-8 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

championships and advanced three Final Fours. In Washington's sophomore season of 1974–75, the Bruins captured the NCAA title. The Bruins went 28–3 and, powered by the front line of future NBA players Washington, Dave Meyers and

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player and character actor who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National B ...

, and defeated

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

92–85 in the title game, which would also be coach Wooden's final game. Washington was named

NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player The Most Outstanding Player (MOP) is awarded to one player after the conclusion of the championship game of the NCAA Division I NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, men's and NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, women's basketb ...

following UCLA's 1975 championship. He earned first-team All-American honors as a junior in 1975–76.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 1973–74 , align="left" ,

, 24 , , – , , – , , .513 , , – , , .500 , , 2.8 , , 0.5 , , – , , – , , 4.1 , - , align="left" , 1974–75 , align="left" ,

, 31 , , – , , – , , .576 , , – , , .724 , , 7.8 , , 2.2 , , – , , – , , 15.9 , - , align="left" , 1975–76 , align="left" ,

, 32 , , – , , – , , .513 , , – , , .736 , , 8.6 , , 3.1 , , – , , – , , 20.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 87 , , – , , – , , .536 , , – , , .702 , , 6.7 , , 2.0 , , – , , – , , 14.2

NBA career

Washington was declared eligible for the

due to hardship status. He played six seasons in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

as a member of the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

and

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

. In his NBA career, he scored 3,456 points and grabbed 2,204 rebounds.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1976–77 , align="left" ,

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, 82 , , – , , 27.6 , , .431 , , – , , .697 , , 8.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 1.1 , , 13.0 , - , align="left" , 1977–78 , align="left" ,

, 78 , , – , , 28.6 , , .477 , , – , , .754 , , 8.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 12.8 , - , align="left" , 1978–79 , align="left" ,

, 18 , , – , , 8.9 , , .341 , , – , , .625 , , 2.7 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 2.1 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, 75 , , – , , 14.6 , , .468 , , .000 , , .605 , , 3.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 5.9 , - , align="left" , 1980–81 , align="left" ,

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 11 , , – , , 27.9 , , .436 , , .000 , , .739 , , 7.6 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 10.8 , - , align="left" , 1980–81 , align="left" ,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, 69 , , – , , 21.8 , , .459 , , .500 , , .750 , , 5.3 , , 1.6 , , 0.6 , , 0.8 , , 9.9 , - , align="left" , 1981–82 , align="left" ,

, 18 , , 2 , , 17.4 , , .435 , , .000 , , .600 , , 4.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 6.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 351 , , 2 , , 22.4 , , .453 , , .250 , , .711 , , 6.3 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.8 , , 9.8

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1978–79 , align="left" ,

, 4 , , – , , 13.0 , , .550 , , – , , 1.000 , , 3.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 6.0 , - , align="left" , 1979–80 , align="left" ,

, 7 , , – , , 16.0 , , .532 , , .000 , , .250 , , 2.9 , , 0.4 , , 0.6 , , 1.1 , , 7.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 11 , , – , , 14.9 , , .537 , , .000 , , .500 , , 3.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.8 , , 6.8

Personal life

Washington and his wife, Leiko, reside in

Milwaukie, Oregon Milwaukie is a city mostly in Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas County, Oregon, United States; a very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County, Oregon, Multnomah County. The population was 21,119 at the 2020 United States Census, ...

. They have raised two daughters. Interested in building and construction since his youth, in 1993 he founded Richard Washington Construction, a general contracting company. In 1988, Washington was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Career statistics
– college basketball player statistics at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Richard 1955 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Portland, Oregon Benson Polytechnic High School alumni Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers players Dallas Mavericks expansion draft picks Dallas Mavericks players Kansas City Kings draft picks Kansas City Kings players Milwaukee Bucks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) UCLA Bruins men's basketball players