STRIP CLUB FOLLIES: CLIPPERS’ WILLIAMS RECEIVES 10 DAYS
Clippers guard Lou Williams must undergo a 10day 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 that the team was not pleased to see the pictures.
More NBA
Joel Embiid is hurting, and that’s a cause for concern as the 76ers get set to restart their season this week. The All-star starting center sat out Philadelphia’s scrimmage against Oklahoma City with right calf tightness, something 76ers coach Brett Brown hopes is merely a minor blip.
• 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.
Junior golf
Jacobe Paule and Janae Leovao won their respective divisions last week of the PAR BAR Junior Championship at the Arrowood Golf Course in Oceanside. Paule, who attends St. Agustine
High School, scored a threeshot win in the boys division with a 5-under 137. El Camino High’s Leovao, 16, took the girls division by one shot.
NFL
The New York Giants are releasing kicker Aldrick Rosas, who faces formal charges in an alleged highspeed California hit-and-run that led to his June arrest. To replace Rosas, the Giants are signing Chandler Catanzaro to a one-year deal.
WNBA
Sylvia Fowles had 17 points and 18 rebounds, Napheesa Collier scored nine of her 11 points in the final five minutes, and the Minnesota Lynx rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat the Connecticut Sun 77-69 in the season opener for both teams in Bradenton, Fla.
• In other openers, Kahleah Copper scored 18 points, Allie Quigley hit a 3pointer with 14.7 seconds to play, and the Chicago Sky scored the final 11 points to beat the Las Vegas Aces 8886. Meanwhile, Monique Billings had a career-high 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and the Atlanta Dream beat the Dallas Wings 105-95.
Also
Eddie Shack, one of the NHL’S most colorful players on and off the ice, died. He was 83. The Toronto Maple Leafs announced the news in a tweet.
Arizona General Manager John Chayka earned a contract extension early this season for building the Coyotes into playoff contenders in four short years. He was being called a quitter by the team in a strongly worded statement after stepping down a week before the Coyotes’ Stanley Cup qualifier series against Nashville.