Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams will have to quarantine for 10 days before he’s permitted to return to the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World Resort campus.
According to the New York Times‘ Marc Stein, the quarantine went into effect Saturday. As a result, Williams will miss the Clippers’ first two games of the NBA restart.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Bobby Marks reported Saturday the league was looking into Williams visiting the Magic City gentlemen’s club in Atlanta after receiving an excused absence to leave the NBA “bubble” in Orlando, Florida.
According to the report, Williams attended a viewing ceremony for the father of a close friend on Thursday and then traveled to Magic City for dinner.
The NBA’s health and safety protocol lays out a quarantine period of at least four days for players who leave and re-enter the “bubble.” Shelburne and Marks noted the period can be extended based upon the recommendation of infectious disease specialists.
Williams was the third Clippers player to leave the Disney campus. ESPN’s Malika Andrews reported that Patrick Beverley departed due to “an emergency personal matter,” while Montrezl Harrell had a “family emergency” that required his presence, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
The combined absences of Beverley and Williams will leave Los Angeles shorthanded in the backcourt. It may not mean too much in the grand scheme of things, though, assuming both players are back early into the restart.
The Clippers are 5.5 games back of the first-place Los Angeles Lakers, and closing that gap in just eight seeding games was always going to be tough. Holding onto the second seed will be a bigger priority for L.A., which has a 1.5-game cushion on the Utah Jazz.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
