An NBA Player Got Caught Breaking the Rules in the Bubble
The National Basketball Association (NBA) season was one professional sports league that got creative in playing through the pandemic. The 2019-2020 season was halted on March 11, 2020, and the league began to craft their plan. On June 4, the NBA’s Board of Governors approved a plan to restart the season on July 30, which included a single site campus at Walt Disney Resort in Florida.
The 22 teams that were within playoff contention were brought to the campus, with players, coaches, and staff kept in a “bubble”. They would play a short schedule of seeding games to determine the playoff teams, and then begin a playoff schedule to determine a champion in October.
There were strict health and safety protocols set in place. Everyone was tested daily for COVID-19. No fans were allowed to attend the games, and participants’ families and friends were only allowed into the “bubble” after the playoffs’ first round. They would stay and be held to the same precautions as the players and coaches.
The seeding games ended, and the playoff matchups were set. The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers advanced to the second round and matched up in the Western Conference Semifinals.
The day after game 2, reserve forward Daniel House Jr. got caught bringing an unauthorized guest--one of the female temperature checkers--up to his room for several hours. He was held out of games 3 and 4 while the NBA concluded their investigation and then was sent home. The Rockets would go on to lose to the eventual champion in five games. Shortly after, House got support from fellow NBA player Kevin Durant, while appearing on The Joe Budden Podcast. Durant said:
"If you've been in a bubble away from some action for three months? I mean, you can't blame him, dog. I heard it was no females at all outside of [COVID testers]. The maids were all men, there was nothing but men around. After a couple months, you down 3-1? Nah. ‘I don't give a f— no more man.'"
