Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams will have to be quarantined for 10 days inside the Orlando bubble after picking up food at an Atlanta strip club during a family-excused absence, the NBA ruled, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Williams is already back inside the bubble in Orlando, and began his quarantine on Saturday. He will miss the Clippers’ first two seed games as a result of the quarantine and lose up to $ 150,000 in salary, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Clippers reopened the season against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
Williams left for a short time earlier this week to attend a funeral, but photos of him at a men’s club in Atlanta also appeared on social media. Rapper Jack Harlow posted a photo of himself and Williams on Thursday night, showing them hanging out. Harlow quickly removed the post, but not before it had been widely shared.
Harlow then tried to cover his tracks. “That was an old choice for Lou and me,” he wrote on Twitter. “I just remembered why I miss him.” He quickly removed that Tweet as well. With the evidence amassed against him, Williams told NBA security that he visited the Magic City men’s club on Thursday night, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. However, he claims he was there to pick up dinner.
Players who leave the bubble for excused absences, as Williams did, must quarantine for at least four days upon returning to Disney. That’s the minimum amount of time, though, and it also requires negative COVID-19 tests to be returned every day they leave, and they’re not in high-risk settings.
The Clippers were understandably upset with Williams’ decision, and head coach Doc Rivers said Saturday that he “didn’t enjoy” seeing him. If Williams’ re-quarantine time were extended, he would likely lose at least the team’s first game against the Los Angeles Lakers on July 30.
The NBA bubble environment has been successful so far because everyone has followed the procedures, but all it takes is for one person to slide like Williams for the COVID-19 to spread and make a lot of people sick, and possibly even close the entire operation. .
That is why the league has been so diligent in its investigation, and also why it is no surprise to see Williams obtain an extended 10-day quarantine period. Yes, it is inconvenient for him and the Clippers, but prevention is better than cure when it comes to a deadly virus.
