Visit to club nets Williams longer quarantine
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The NBA said Sunday that Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers is being quarantined for 10 days because of his trip out of the league’s bubble last week to attend a funeral for a family member.
He will miss at least two of the Clippers’ seeding games, including their opener Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers. It's possible he could miss more than two since his likely release will be Aug. 4, the day of the Clippers’ third seeding game.
The issue was not that Williams left the bubble but that he also went to a club on that trip to Atlanta, and photographs of that visit — with him wearing a type of mask that the NBA distributed inside the bubble at Walt Disney World — appeared on social media.
“I can’t share much with his journey because I wasn’t on that journey with him,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said
Saturday. “Obviously those (photos) got out, and that’s something we didn’t enjoy seeing or liked.”
The photos prompted an investigation by NBA security, and ultimately the 10-day ruling. Williams visited a club that he has described as being his favorite restaurant; the establishment even has chicken wings on its menu that are named for him.
But with Williams being in a group of people and potentially exposing himself to the coronavirus, the NBA decided that a longer quarantine was required to ensure the safety of those in the bubble.
Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans got only a four-day quarantine after leaving the bubble earlier this month for a family matter. Williamson received the shorter quarantine because he was tested daily during his absence and continually was negative, plus he satisfied other NBA requirements.
The Clippers were not practicing
Sunday and are not expected to comment on the NBA’S ruling before today. They had 10 players available for their scrimmage game against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.
With Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley also having left the bubble for personal reasons, and with Williams now out for an extended absence, they’ll be short-handed for the foreseeable future.
“We only have 10 guys. That makes it really challenging,” Rivers said. “There’s no breaks in practice, so you tend to not go as long. You feel like you don’t get half the stuff in that you want to get in. I’d love to say it hasn’t been, but it’s been a definite challenge.”
Williams is a contender to win the NBA’S Sixth Man of the Year award, averaging 18.7 points per game. The Clippers have secured a playoff spot and enter the restart sitting second in the Western Conference, 5½ games behind the Lakers and 1½ games ahead of third-place Denver.