Houston Rockets: 3 Upsetting revelations about “The Punch” incident

2. Washington’s Immediate Reaction to his Punishment

As a result of the punch, Kermit Washington was fined $10,000 and suspended from playing for 60 days. The actual consequences he faced, however, went way beyond that, both financially and personally.

According to this Times Daily article from four days after the incident, the 26 games Washington would be forced to miss would end up costing $43,560 in addition to the fine.

When asked about it for the newspaper, Washington responded, “Wow! This is stiff. Maybe there’s a bright side. At least the people who always ask me for money won’t anymore. I won’t have any. I’m glad I’ve been conservative with my money.”

Then, when asked about his reputation, Washington continued, “This is terrible for my image. What if I want to get a job when I’m out of basketball? I knew they would go by the severity of Rudy’s injuries, but this is ridiculous.”

Granted, Washington was only four days removed from the incident and had only recently learned of his punishment, but all of these quotes are still a bad look for him. Given that Rudy Tomjanovich had to fight for his life,  financial worries should’ve been the least of Kermit’s concerns.

He didn’t outwardly seem that sympathetic in this interview overall, instead seeming to focus on what the incident was gonna cost him personally. This was definitely an unfortunate reaction.

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