Report: Bruno Caboclo broke quarantine to ask about more food

“He went downstairs, and asked them about how he could get more food, instead of calling from his room,” said The Ringer’s Chris Vernon.

On Monday, we learned the Houston Rockets would be without Bruno Caboclo for more than a week because the 24-year-old inadvertently broke quarantine at the NBA’s “bubble” complex near Orlando.

Days later, more information has surfaced as to how and why Houston’s reserve big man was forced back into quarantine for 10 days.

Chris Vernon, who hosts The Ringer NBA Show podcast and previously covered Caboclo during his time in Memphis, said he knows friends of Caboclo who informed him as to what happened. His report:

I have friends that are still friends with Bruno Caboclo from his time in Memphis. He was hungry, and he left his room to ask about getting more food. He went downstairs, and asked them about how he could get more food, instead of calling from his room. And they’re like, ‘What are you doing?’ That’s how he broke quarantine.

All arriving NBA personnel are required to stay in their own hotel room for two nights and complete two negative COVID-19 tests on different days before they can truly enter the bubble. The policy aims to ensure that no one brings the virus inside the complex from their home markets.

Players and staff had been well informed of the rule, which Caboclo broke when he went downstairs at the Grand Floridian to ask about acquiring more food — rather than calling from his room. According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Caboclo was unaware of the protocol.

Unfortunately for Caboclo, the 10 days of practices that he’s going to miss could harm his previously stated mission of earning playing time for head coach Mike D’Antoni with this year’s Rockets (40-24).

When Caboclo is eligible to return next Tuesday, the Rockets will be only days away from their first scrimmage on Friday, July 24 and barely more than a week away from the 2019-20 season resuming on July 31. With games that close, Houston’s rotation could already be coming into focus.

While Caboclo will still be useful depth and bench insurance, no matter what, the unintended second quarantine could end up costing him his best opportunity to earn playing time with this season’s Rockets. Caboclo, who entered the league as the No. 20 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, will be a free agent once the 2019-20 season concludes.

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