Clips' Williams faces 10-day quarantine for extracurricular strip club visit
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 family member’s funeral.
He will miss at least two of the Clippers’ seeding games, including their 30 July opener against the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s possible he could miss more than two since his likely release will be 4 August, the day of the Clippers’ third seeding game.
The issue was not that Williams left the bubble but that he also went to a gentlemen’s 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.
That prompted an investigation by NBA security, and ultimately the 10-day ruling. Williams visited a club that he has often described as being his favorite restaurant – and the establishment even has chicken wings that are named for him on the menu.
But by being in a group of people and potentially exposing himself to coronavirus, the NBA decided that a longer quarantine was what’s required to ensure the safety of those in the bubble.
The shooting guard is averaging 18.6 points and 5.7 assists coming off the bench for Los Angeles, who had the second-best record in the Western Conference when the NBA suspended its season on 11 March.
Williams is one of several players who have left the bubble so far for what were described as family reasons, including New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers and Clippers teammates Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley.
Williamson, the No 1 pick in last year’s NBA draft, returned to Disney World on Friday night and immediately went back into quarantine. There was no immediate announcement about how long he would remain separated from the Pelicans, but being back now suggests that it is possible he could play when New Orleans faces Utah on Thursday in the first seeding game of the NBA restart.
“My family and I appreciate the love and respect that everyone showed us while we dealt with a private family matter,” Williamson said Friday night in a statement. “I’m excited to rejoin my team in Orlando and look forward to getting back on the court with my teammates after the quarantine.”
Williamson spent eight days outside the bubble. He was tested daily during his absence for Covid-19, and all those tests were negative.
The NBA and the players union’ said Monday that none of the 346 players tested for Covid-19 returned positive results over the previous seven days, the most encouraging sign yet the bubble concept is working.
Two players’ tests had come back positive during the first week on campus out of 322 administered. Another 19 had tested positive during in-market testing that began on 1 July before the teams headed to central Florida.