The NBA announced today in a press release that it has concluded its investigation into Rockets forward Danuel House following an apparent violation of campus health and safety protocols. According to the league, the investigation found that House had an unauthorized guest in his hotel room “over multiple hours” earlier this week.
“Mr. House is leaving the NBA campus and will not participate with the Rockets team in additional games this season,” the Rockets said in their statement.
As we detailed in a pair of stories on Wednesday and Thursday, the league’s probe into the Rockets was focused on the belief that a female COVID-19 testing official entered the team hotel without authorization for several hours late on Monday night.
When asked about the incident, the staffer reportedly implicated Tyson Chandler and another Rocket, but those players were cleared and the investigation focused on House, who was held out of Games 3 and 4 of Houston’s series vs. the Lakers as he quarantined. The league was said to have circumstantial evidence implicating the forward.
House “vehemently denied” violating the league’s safety protocols, but the Rockets and the NBPA were essentially powerless during the investigation, since the NBA is in charge of medical and safety protocols. That was a source of frustration for the Rockets, who were “blindsided” by the investigation, per Ben Golliver of The Washington Post.
“If it was a star player, there’s no way (the NBA) would handle it this way,” a person close to House with direct knowledge of the investigation told Golliver. “They want to make an example out of somebody.”
Another source told Golliver that the NBA was “prioritizing their perception of safety over everything else.”
House is a key rotation player for Houston, having averaged 11.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG on .435/.358/.769 shooting in the Rockets’ first nine playoff games (31.0 MPG). The Rockets have lost both games with House sidelined and find themselves in a 3-1 hole that may be too big to climb out of — especially without an important role player.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I had my money on JR Smith to do something like this. My apologies to Mr. Smith.
He still can
You make an excellent point! There’s still time.
The good thing is that now he can reunite with his wife. I’m sure they have lots of things to talk about.
Wonder if the delusional Rocket fans will realize House is not some X factor they made him out to be. Lakers have exposed that team and system. Morey will be lucky to have a job by this time next week. D’antoni will be the scapegoat.
They are 1-1 with, 0-2 without. x-factor is a good word for him. He doesn’t get down like Harden might be inclined, so is a good influence. Hard to say what sort of influence Westbrook has, but it may not be helpful.
The Rockets went 36-16 when House started in the regular season.
In their other 20 games they went 8-12, so obviously he mattered a lot.
Not exactly a team player
Hilarious the guy breaks a rule everyone knows about, then lies about doing it and now has friends saying it wouldn’t be a big deal if a star did it and blaming the NBA. Pretty pathetic at every single point.
When your libido is more important than your team….
Adding House was going to put the Rockets over the Lakers. Still going to be interesting to see how they handle him going into next season
I imagine he won’t be playing another game in Houston again. No way his teammates are ok with what he did.
They will replace him with David Nwaba, who’s already on the roster.
Why replace him? It was an NBA call I think.
The rest of the Rockets will be following him soon enough. No biggie.
House should wait for one more day
Go home together with Team Rockets
Maybe nba wants him to save his marriage
Selfish.
Lou Williams stayed I the club for a few hours
House said he did not do anything with her in hotel room after midnight
She has no room to stay
If you believe that, I don’t know what to tell you.
I bet lebron had something to do with it. He’s always whining about something.
Pretty pathetic you’re trying to drag Lebron into this situation.
Or funny^
Rockets have an excuse now for their mood.
They always have an excuse. Go 0-27 from 3, look for an excuse. Blow Game 5 and 6 after Durant goes down last year. Look for another excuse.
LOL yup Lebron bullied House into leaving the bubble? You haters don’t even hear how ridiculous you sound.
I’m nowhere near a Lebron fan but credit where credit is due, he’s kept his nose clean generally for his entire long career
It seems that Tyson Chandler wants to take the fall for House so House can play Lakers
It says from additional games. It should be “one more game”. It’s over. Small ball small series.
The lady test Covid positive?
Scary
For the source close to house. No one tunes into a game to watch House unless they are your family member. Everyone who tuned into a Rocket game wants to watch Harden.
Sooo very true! No one cares for House… everybody wants to watch Harden!!!
Danuel, you have a small chance for a championship or a large chance to get lucky. Which do you choose”?
What an enormous overreaction to something that scientifically has no impact at all, since she was already inside the bubble.
Yep, they always have to find a way to give the Lakers an unfair advantage.
It’s no big deal but the guy had to constantly lie about it? Makes a lot of sense…
Maybe he should work on controlling his urges and not break rules that every single NBA player is aware of
It’s a big deal for him because he’s married. It’s not a big deal for the NBA because his marriage isn’t their business and this woman was already in the bubble as a tester. It’s not like he brought in an outsider. I would love to see some kind of scientific argument on how his actions have anything to do with the coronavirus.
It doesn’t take a scientist to tell someone when they knowingly break the rules they will get punished.
He lied about it because he knew he did something wrong and still did it. If he didn’t like the rules he should have taken it up with the league before the incident.
So he got tossed for lying? What else could he do if he’s married. Why even ask? So what, if they’re both covid-free? There must be something else going on.
“for several hours”. Oh the horror.
Adultery destroys millions more families than this so called “virus”, right?
Maybe people should have some morals in their life!
He got tossed for breaking a rule lmao, 99.9% of the players were somehow able to follow it and everyone who didn’t got punished. It’s really really really really simple.
“unauthorized guest”. People are supposed to move freely inside the bubble. That was why it got approved. But apparently there are childlike restrictions in place unrelated to the external threat that causes the need to bubble-up in the first place.
Other penalties are available like a suspension. Other players have done worse things; walked off the area and brought back food, and that was okay. This causes the Rockets to lose the series.
The enemy for humans is miroscopic, in the air which most people probably think is empty, and people can’t grasp it and come up with weird stuff like the police are trying to kill us or guests in a bubble must be authorized.
Are you out of your mind? This is serious business. This could’ve shut down the entire league if they were both positive
For what it’s worth, the NBA’s press release said House’s “guest” wasn’t authorized to be on campus, which gives me the impression that testers (or this one, at least) are coming and going from the bubble rather than staying there 24-7.
From the Washington Post’s article on the subject: “Some contractors working in the bubble undergo regular coronavirus testing but may live off-campus, thereby presenting a greater risk to players, who have been sequestered from the outside world since early July.”
Frankly, that should have been in the HR article, the reason the guest was unauthorized. I would assume even workers who live on-campus are restricted in their co-mingling with players. They would be unauthorized too, but safe from covid and pre-quarantined. Well better late than never, good job Luke reading the comments.
I do not usually read about the NBA outside this site; sometimes if linked.
Where’s rocket boy “hardenwestbrook” at? Sure this is going to be his excuse for Houston not winning. Even tho they had no chance anyways.
He’s just mad it wasn’t Westbrook getting sent home
She’s a tester? So she obviously doesn’t h r COVID. Damn, Rockets are cursed.
Tester of what lol. A Bubble is not for outsiders. I know they not in military. But must have seen a military movie, Ptotocol.
House better hope his wife is forgiving and that testing girl belongs to the streets.
Does the female have to leave the bubble also, since she broke the protocol as well?
Duh
What is wrong with these people? They have no willpower. I once went 28 years without having sex. And then again for seven years
Too much information….
Protocol is there for a reason. He endangered his team. It’s pretty simple. House knew they weren’t winning. He don’t care. I would of cut him from team.
It’s an Office quote lol