Nets’ Richardson Fails to Show for a Home Game

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New Jersey guard Micheal Ray Richardson failed to show up for the Nets’ National Basketball Assn. game against the Washington Bullets Saturday night, a team official said. Lewis Schaffel, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Nets, said that Richardson’s wife, Leah, reported that the player didn’t return home following a team Christmas gathering Friday night.

“His wife doesn’t know where he is,” Schaffel said.

Richardson was named the NBA’s comeback player of the year last season when he returned from a second bout with cocaine dependency to rank first in the league in steals, sixth in assists and third among guards in rebounds. The Nets gave him a third chance after he agreed to a contract stipulation calling for banishment from the league for life if he again tested positive for drugs.