Williams to miss first two games
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams must undergo a 10-day quarantine before he can return to the court during the NBA restart, the league confirmed Sunday, a decision that knocks one of the NBA’s top-scoring reserves out of the Clippers’ lineup for their first two official games.
The Clippers officially restart their season Thursday against the Lakers. They then play Aug. 1 against New Orleans. The Clippers, who own the second-best record in the Western Conference, play eight seeding games before the postseason begins Aug. 17.
Williams will also forfeit money for the games he misses, according to league rules.
The quarantine ruling came after Williams was the center of controversy this weekend.
Williams, 33, left the league’s campus at the Disney World resort near Orlando, Fla., after his team’s first scrimmage Wednesday to attend a funeral near Atlanta. The absence was ruled excused by the NBA, meaning Williams would have to quarantine for only four days upon his return to Disney World.
But by Thursday night, rapper Jack Harlow posted a picture of Williams — wearing an NBA-branded mask — at an Atlanta strip club on Instagram. The post was later deleted and Harlow later wrote on Twitter that it “was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.”
The NBA soon began “looking into” Williams’ activities while away, according to two people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, and Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Saturday the team was not pleased to see the pictures.
“He’s back here; I call tell you that much,” Rivers said. “And obviously those got out and that’s something we obviously didn’t enjoy seeing or liked.”
Williams is the Clippers’ third-leading scorer this season, averaging 18.7 points per game off the bench. The threetime NBA Sixth Man Award winner scored a team-high 22 points on Wednesday during the Clippers’ first scrimmage ahead of the restart.
Right calf issue sidelines Embiid
All-Star starting center Joel Embiid sat out Philadelphia’s scrimmage against Oklahoma City on Sunday with right calf tightness, something 76ers coach Brett Brown hopes is merely a minor blip.
“I believe we’re just getting out in front of stuff and being smart with it,” Brown said.
Embiid has an extensive injury history, has never appeared in more than 64 games in a regular season and missed 21 of Philadelphia’s 65 games this season before the season was shut down March 11 because of the pandemic.
Embiid is averaging 23.4 points and 11.8 rebounds this season. Philadelphia is 28-16 in games with Embiid this season, 11-10 without him.
Mavs’ Porzingis misses virus test
The league is handing down one-day quarantines to players who forget to go to their designated locations for the daily coronavirus test — with Dallas’ Kristaps Porzingis the latest to get that penalty.
Porzingis missed Dallas’ scrimmage on Sunday because of his forgetfulness. Denver’s Paul Millsap had to sit out the Nuggets’ scrimmage on Saturday for the same reason.
Kings’ Barnes back at practice
Kings forward Harrison Barnes was on the floor for practice Sunday just two days after joining the team in Florida.
Coach Luke Walton was encouraged by what he saw, saying Barnes might even be able to play when the Kings scrimmage the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday at Walt Disney World Resort.
Walton will have difficult rotation decisions to make now that Barnes is in the NBA bubble, but he will welcome that challenge after illness and injuries created weeks of roster uncertainty.
Walton described what he was seeing from Barnes and talked about what that might mean for DaQuan Jeffries, an undrafted rookie who impressed in the first two scrimmages.
Doncic shines in scrimmage
In just 24 minutes Luka Doncic scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and racked up nine assists as the Dallas Mavericks ultimately fell the Indiana Pacers 118-111.