Rockets' Danuel House Leaves NBA Bubble After Having Unauthorized Guest in Room
Houston Rockets guard Danuel House Jr. won't be returning to the NBA campus after leaving Friday following an NBA investigation.
Per a statement from the league, House violated campus health and safety protocols by having an unauthorized guest in his hotel room for "multiple hours on September 8":
Per The Athletic's Shams Charania and Sam Amick, the NBA opened an investigation to determine if House allowed a female coronavirus tester, who isn't believed to be a league employee, into his hotel room:
"A woman entered the Rockets’ team hotel on Monday night, passing multiple security checkpoints before being flagged for her entry, sources said. She exited the hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and the league cited early data points that implicated two members of the Rockets, House and Tyson Chandler, sources said. When the woman was questioned by NBA security, she did not implicate House’s name and it is uncertain whether she remains on campus, sources said. She claimed to have contact with Chandler and another player, not named House, according to sources."
The Rockets ruled House and Chandler out for Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinals series against the Los Angeles Lakers for personal reasons.
Charania and Amick noted the NBA had "circumstantial evidence implicating House" even though "there appears to be no video connecting House and the woman; only the flagging of her entering and leaving the hotel, and the possibility of a door opening and closing to match those timelines."
Per Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, the Rockets are the last team staying at the Grand Floridian Resort on the Walt Disney World Resort campus.
The Rockets will play the Lakers in Game 5 Friday night trailing the series 3-1 and needing to win three straight times to advance.
House appeared in each of Houston's first nine postseason games. He averaged 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest and shot 35.8 percent from three-point range.
