Houston Rockets forward Danuel House Jr. reportedly apologized to his teammates before leaving the NBA’s “bubble” complex earlier this month, according to a new report from Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
House missed Houston’s final three playoff games after the NBA determined that he had close contact with an unauthorized person in the team’s hotel — allegedly, a female COVID-19 testing official. House left the league’s Disney World bubble at the conclusion of an investigation.
While testing officials are allowed at the bubble, they go in and out each day and (unlike players) do not live there. Thus, as with maintenance staff, the NBA has strict protocols in place to minimize the potential exposure of those workers to personnel living at the site. House violated those safety protocols, so he faced harsh discipline. Making matters worse, House initially denied the accusation before eventually confirming it.
In a mailbag story posted Thursday, Iko writes that House apologized to the entire Houston team before his departure.
From what I understand, House apologized to the entire team before exiting the bubble. It was a bad decision made on his part, but one that didn’t just affect the team — it might have affected his future.
ROCKETS MEGA-MAILBAG, PART 2 up on @TheAthleticNBA
🏀The Danuel House dilemma
🏀Isolation island and Harden 2.0
🏀Lessons from the 4 conference finalists
🏀Ownership and head coach costs, and more. https://t.co/9tvEUrE1D4
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIkoNBA) September 24, 2020
The Rockets went 0-3 in those games without House, and All-Star guard James Harden called it “a distraction” upon Houston’s second-round exit at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers. “Very, very disappointing,” Harden said. “It affected us. He was a huge part of our rotation.”
Now 27 years old, House averaged 11.4 points (35.8% on 3-pointers) and 5.8 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game during the playoffs. The 6-foot-6 forward is still under contract with Houston for two more seasons.
Even with his secure contractual status, though, the harsh comments by an established team leader in Harden left many wondering if the Rockets might look to trade House in the offseason as a result of the incident.
While it’s far too soon to say that won’t happen, the initial step by House of apologizing to teammates would seem to be a positive sign that he’s willing to try and make amends and earn back the team’s trust.
