LA Clippers guard Lou Williams is the last team member to leave the NBA campus with an excused absence.
Williams joins Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell as Clippers players who had to leave the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Beverley left to attend to a personal emergency matter, and Harrell left to attend to a justified family emergency.
Beverley is the Clippers’ starting point guard, and Williams and Harrell are the team’s best players off the bench. Both are under consideration for the sixth Man of the Year award.
Williams is expected to rejoin the team, according to a source. Beverley and Harrell are also expected to return to Orlando.
Coach Doc Rivers said players across the league often have personal or family problems, and it could cost them practice during the regular season. But players leaving Orlando to deal with a problem become an important deal, because any player who leaves campus must conduct daily negative coronavirus testing while away before having to quarantine for four days or more upon return.
“I think we all knew we could start the league,” Rivers said of the restart. “The key is, can we finish it? I think that will be the most important thing. I think what the league has learned, that the teams have already known, that it is more than basketball that arises. The boys have life. You Already Whether it’s a family problem, a children’s problem, a wife problem or something like that, there are problems that come up in these guys’ lives. We give them days off all the time for that, but nobody really notices.
“But now, when you’re in the bubble, when you’re gone, it really points to it. So I think, in a good way, the public really sees that NBA players are human and have regular life issues.”
After Williams scored 22 points during a 99-90 scrimmage victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, he opened his post-game press conference by sending his thoughts to Harrell and Beverley.
“I want to send a greeting to Trez and Pat, who are at home dealing with family problems,” Williams said. “Thinking of them.”
The Clippers played that scrimmage without four rotating players. Starting center Ivica Zubac and guard Landry Shamet did not travel with the team to Orlando for the restart and were not with the team.
Marcus Morris, who recently joined the team in Orlando, said his arrival had been delayed due to a family problem. He said he has a son in September and that he will also leave Orlando for delivery.
“Some things are bigger than basketball,” said Morris. “Some boys will come back. We are praying for those boys and their families. Things are bigger than basketball. We are not concerned with our depth right now, these preseason games, whatever it is. We know what we are recovering, what kind of team we’ve had. We’re not really concerned. “
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