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UPDATE: Sept. 11, 5:49 p.m. ET — House has left the NBA bubble in Orlando and will not return, the NBA announced Friday.
NBA announces that Rockets F Danuel House Jr. is out for the remainder of the playoffs. League determined "House had a guest in his hotel room over multiple hours on September 8 who was not authorized to be on campus." No other staff members or players were deemed to be involved.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) September 11, 2020
The Rockets trail the Lakers 3-1 in their second-round series and things aren’t looking good for Houston. House has missed the past two games due to the investigation and the Rockets’ depth took a big hit. With House out for Game 5, it looks like Houston will have a tough time getting past L.A. in such a big hole. With House out, Jeff Green should continue to get plenty of minutes off the bench. For some reason, Robert Covington didn’t play much in Game 4 and Austin Rivers got some run in a smaller lineup look (as if things could get any smaller).
Houston Rockets F Danuel House Jr. is under investigation by the NBA after allegedly allowing a female testing official into his hotel room, Yahoo Sports reported. House did not play in Game 3 of the second round vs. the Los Angeles Lakers due to “personal” reasons. House has been ruled out indefinitely while the investigation continues and he is not expected to play in Game 4 on Thursday night.
House says that is he is innocent, per the report, and the NBA is expected to decide what to do with House prior to Game 4 on Thursday night. Houston is the only team staying at the hotel it is currently occupying, the Grand Floridian.
House had been averaging 11.4 points per game in nine playoff games, four starts for the Rockets. The team lacks depth, so his absence was a big deal in Game 3, a 112-102 loss to go down 2-1 in the best-of-7 series. House’s absence again in Game 4 would mean Jeff Green will need to play 30+ minutes again. We only saw an eight-player rotation with Austin Rivers and Ben McLemore player scarce minutes outside the starters and Green.